


RWBY: Shadows Over Remnant

by Mysterybox_Studios



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Lovecraftian, M/M, Multiverse, Original Character(s), Silly Romance, Spoilers, Tentacles, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 85,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25408747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterybox_Studios/pseuds/Mysterybox_Studios
Summary: Remnant is in pure chaos. The Grimm have decimated the world with their black destructive minds and humanity is on it's last legs. Until 10 beings who have scoured the Multiverse to save those from their bad futures arrive on the grounds of Beacon Academy and have honestly no clue on what they're doing. In their attempts to save a doomed world, they create a pathogen to eradicate the Grimm, which fails. But its true power comes from humanity who, once infected, can turn into Eldritch monstrosities and can wipe out Grimm with ease. But the future holds many challenges for all of Remnant and for our 10 explorers. Will Remnant be saved with the help of this pathogen? Or will team RWBY meet its end? Will our 10 Universe-Jumpers be able to keep their promise and save this dying world? Or will they die off with it? Find out, as our hunters and huntresses team up to defend their world in RWBY: Shadows Over Remnant.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Cinder Fall/Emerald Sustrai, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Neopolitan/Roman Torchwick, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. The end of the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings! This is my first ever Fanfiction, and it might take a really long while for the story to completely come together, but I do hope you all enjoy it the same way I enjoy writing it. Thanks for reading!

It began with a loud growl, a shake, a blink of an eye, a grumble of the stomach, a yawn, it depends on who you ask. But what everyone would agree on, at least those who know the truth, is that it all began with the Blind idiot God, Azathoth. The gigantic, monstrous being with more eyes than there were stars in the whole galaxy, bigger than anything imaginable, more hungry than a depraved universe. He would glide throughout the world, dreaming of story after story as he continued his adventure into nothingness. Then, when he awoke, he would devour the universes that he created, killing what he had birthed. But one day, a day not even he remembers, he dreamt and birthed something peculiar. From the depths of space laid three Gods that had a sort of resemblance to Azathoth. Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth. The details are blurry, but the four gods worked together to create something marvelous: Life. From Cthulhu, came the Creation Gods, beings capable of making universes without the need of Azathoth, so he could devour his own universes without harming the true creations. From Nyarlathotep, came the afterlife and freewill. With free will, chaos could ensue to keep the balance of order in check. The afterlife, kept in the trusting tentacles of Hastorr, kept those who have died safe until another universe required them, thus saving on materials to build other universes. From Yog-Sothoth, came destiny, allowing all to flow as planned, and with the creation of density came the creation of the tarot, the only way to predict the future by communicating with destiny itself. The universe was made, and from the depths of the universe, a story was created. Creation God after Creation God crafted and remade story after story to their liking. Some stories cute and heartwarming. Some dark and tear-jerking. Others quite bizarre. But in the end, all stories are made from the Creation Gods, who are made from the Elder ones, and those stories are kept safe, unless destroyed by their creator. But along with destiny came Yog-Sothoth's favoirte creation: Karma. 

/////

_Tick...Tock…_  
The sun rose out from the deep dark forests with a bright light that shone throughout the school.  
 _Tick...Tock…_  
Its light was a silent yet effective way for the world to say “good morning students.”.  
 _Tick...Tock…_  
Breakfast would be had, smiles would be shared amongst the folks, and peace and quiet would-  
 _BBRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNGGG!!!!_  
Be shattered by an alarm clock, which would follow the same pattern everyday of its existence. It rings, Weiss would complain about its noise, Blake would still be asleep, Yang would attempt to turn it off but to no avail, and the ringing would stop around 20 seconds later when Ruby falls out of her bed and lands on the alarm clock, turning it off and somehow not breaking it everytime. 

“We seriously need a better way of waking up.” Weiss mumbles, ⅓ awake and ⅔ asleep. And like every morning, they wake up the same way as always; Ruby on the floor in pain, Yang trying to wake Blake up, Blake attempting to swat Yang away, and Weiss having an epiphany on where she went wrong in her life to end up at the beck and call of their so called ‘leader’. But they all push through their rough morning routine and finally get ready for the morning challenges, the most difficult being going outside and dealing with the bright sun’s light at eight in the morning. But like always, they seem to manage, with Weiss with her expensive sunglasses, Yang with hers’, and Blake and Ruby hiding under Yang’s hair until they feel ready to take on the morning light. They head to the cafeteria to enjoy their breakfast with Team JNPR, while Weiss, like every morning, reads the daily news and sees if anything important happened, and in their current situation, something always does. 

“More Grimm killings...Again.” Weiss says with a heavy heart, and slightly annoyed at the same news that she keeps reading everyday. This is the fifth day in a row that she has read those same words and they don’t seem to be slowing down.

“I did hear word that the school might start more intense training due to the constant Grimm attacks.” Ren informs.

“That’s nice to hear, but I just hope our school doesn’t turn into a military camp.” Yang says.

“I hope the same, but with all the death and Grimm everywhere, I feel it’s better if we prepare ourselves for this upcoming threat than simply continue acting like it’s the same news we’ve always known.” Pyrrha advises. It was an unfortunate but unavoidable fact. The Grimm were evolving much faster than the people had expected, and it seems as if they don’t have a lot of time to prepare for the next time the Grimm strike. The Grimm were getting more aggressive, and now humanity had to find a way to turn the tables once more. They needed another miracle, another moment of hope similar to when humanity found dust and were able to drive the Grimm back. But dust prices were getting high, and the Grimm were growing in numbers and strength. Time was running out. 

“Any idea of what caused this? Like how did the Grimm start to evolve so quickly?” Ruby chimes in, and everyone went silent. Ruby knew what she asked was impossible to answer, no one had a clue to how the Grimm function or what makes them tick. All they knew was that Grimm were destructive creatures who want humanity gone from the face of the planet. It’s a simple concept, but humanity only knew the basics, which turns out isn’t enough for their survival. 

“UGH! I hate hearing all this negativity around this extremely long and very sturdy table of misfits! How could anyone be sad when you have so many delicious food stuffs right in front of you! Right...In front...OF YOU…” Nora points out, while she takes her fork with three pancakes hanging off of it and waves it around Ren’s face, maple syrup dripping onto Ren’s food.

“Nora...my breakfast…”

“Ren...food stuffs.”

Ren, reluctantly, carefully takes one pancake off Nora’s fork and places it onto his plate, while Nora then proceeds to eat the remaining pancakes off her fork. “But then again, she does have a point. All this negativity could be bad for our performance, and if we can’t perform well against the Grimm...Well...Yeah.”

“Then let’s give it our best! With our teamwork we could accomplish anything!” Ruby stands and shouts, then proceeds to eat her breakfast in a flash with her new found energy. She then proceeds to sit back down and lays her head onto the table, realizing how much her stomach hurts from eating so quickly. 

But this act makes the table laugh and gives a soft smile on Ruby’s face. Her act of courage and pain brought the table together from negativity to pure positivity. The journey to save Remnant is going to be a long and tough one, but Ruby knows that her team, and her friends, could do it...as soon as her stomach feels better...and when class actually starts, then they can do it. But for now, they proceed to eat the same food stuffs they always acquire, and continue the same morning routine as per usual. 


	2. Discovery

Wind blew from all sides of the forest, bringing it the chills and the frost along with it. Snow covered all the parts of the trees and other wildlife that was unlucky to be caught in the winter breeze. But despite this, not all life ceased to come out and work. A young teen, made from water and wearing a fur coat and pants, along with comfy boots, looked outward towards a tree. There was absolutely nothing special about the tree, but somehow the teen was still amazed by it's beauty every time. But today was where the beauty would come to a halt, and the teen shed some tears as he hugged the tree. "Forgive me for what I must do." He muttered before letting go of the tree. He picked up his axe and began chopping, all the while humming _Heyr Himna Smiður_ to himself as tears continued to fall from his face. Once the last strike was given, the tree began to crumble and the young teen wept. But as he did, he heard a cheerful scream from the top of the tree, and he began to worry as the tree slammed into the ground. The young teen scurried towards the top of the tree to find another teen inside, smiling and laughing even, holding up some mistletoe in his hands.

"Found it Cris! Just where I left it!"

"Why would you leave it there, Mr. Zim?"

"Well, where else would It get such a good view of the landscape?" All Cris could do was roll his eyes. He quickly chopped the tree into much more manageable pieces and carried off half of the load, leaving the other half for Zim, who picked up the other pieces with a slight difficulty. Zim was very peculiar, for like his counter part, he wasn't truly human, while Cris was made purely of water, Zim was made purely of ink, wearing an Italian coat and cap, along with nice pants and shoes so shiny all the time you could see your reflection in them even when they were in mud, or at least that what Zim would always say. They placed their bags inside a boat and began to row away, all the while Zim was bouncing up and down excitedly. 

"Thank you so much for helping me out with the wood Mr. Zim." Cris thanked.

"Hey! That's what friends are for!"

"However, if I may ask, what's with all the energy for Mr. Zim?"

"What else but another universe for us to visit?! I heard Kokichi and Saxton found another place needing assistance and you know what that means!!"

Cris gave a small smile. "More people to entertain with your old circus tricks?"

"You god damn right I am!" Zim giggled to himself. 

"But first, the wood, then the fun." Cris reminded Zim.

"Of course, of course, whatever you say." Soon they reached their destination, a small turf house with a campfire and pot out front, and axes of all different sizes on the side, along with some bows and arrows. Cris and Zim placed the pieces of the tree down and Cris began to chop them into more smaller bits for firewood, whilst continuing his song he began earlier, until another young teen interrupted him with a loud slam of his book. 

"Cris." Said the young teen, although his voice sounded that of an old man. He was cladded in a white robe while wearing a necklace with a golden-diamond at the end, along with a pair of pyramid-shaped earrings as he carried a book with a red cover and a golden border.

"Mr. Jackal?" Asked Cris, who had finished his task and began piling the wood.

Jackal gave a soft smile. "Whenever you're ready."

Cris gave a small smile. "Whenever you're done sight seeing." Jackal giggled, and once the last of the wood was placed, Zim came out of hiding, holding a small handful of flowers tied together with the mistletoe he fetched for earlier. 

"Do you think he'll like them?"

Jackal gave an unimpressed expression. "He's a robot. I don't think he'll care about what flowers you get him."

"It's all in the presentation! Should I hand it to him like 'Ta-Da!' or maybe like 'Mi Amore. I have scoured far and wide for these wonderous pieces of plants thinking of you, and I-" Jackal quickly grabbed Zim's mouth and made him shut up.

"Can we go now?" Jackal asked.

"Indeed we can, if..." Cris looked upwards towards the trees and found a scarecrow with a noose around its neck and a hessian bag covering a small candle giving a green glow along with a green gemstone in its chest sitting at the top. It slowly turned its head around and stared towards the group at the bottom and cocked its head to the side.

"Are...We...Going?" It asked, its voice sounding like air, no bass nor life, just air and the barely audible sounds of language.

Cris frowned. "Y-yes, we are. Come on Mr. Jack-o...Let's get going. You still have the jumper-ring?"

Jack-o slowly nodded as he slid down from his tree and landed into the snow, his twigs and sticks-for-feet crinkling the soft snow and his brown cloth excuse for a coat wavering in the weak, but still present, wind. It looked towards the group with his triangle eyes, his jack-o-lantern smile, and began walking towards them as he slowly handed a small silver ring to Cris. Despite the smile, Cris deep down knew of the real emotion the scarecrow had, and sighed as he took the ring and chucked it in front of himself, and it stopped midair. It gave a small, electric sound and quickly opened and expanded, revealing a gateway to another world.

Cris moved aside and held his arm outwards towards the gateway. "After you all."

Zim was quick to zip right through the gateway, followed close behind by Jackal, and Jack-o took a while to reach the gateway, but made it there eventually and, accompanied by Cris, they entered a medium-sized room with a giant table in the middle, accompanied by two more teens, while a few others began moving around the room. But one stopped and, as quick as lightning, ran towards Zim and stopped mere inches from him. It was a robot, pink with a heart monitor on it's chest and dials on its head accompanied by two antennas, and a monitor acting as it's face with a big, dumb, goofy smile on it. "So?" Asked the robot.

Zim held out the flowers. "Eh?"

The robot beamed with joy. "They're radicalicious!" 

Jackal cringed. "Radicalicious...Makes me sick to my stomach."

Zim smiled "You really think so B.D?" 

"Think so? I know so dude! Look at them, perfect for my collection!"

"Which you have been watering right?" B.D went silent. "R I G H T ? !" B.D ran towards his room while Zim followed close behind, but before any of them could get far, the door leading out of the room closed on both of them as they ran right into it.

"Willkommen mein Freundes." Said one of the teens sitting at a table as he smirked when the two misfits slammed into the door as he lifted his finger from a button on the table. The teen was German and wore a purple suit and a purple bowtie, and he was sipping tea with a second teen sitting at the table. To be genuinely honest, to the German teen at least, it was weird being the only person along with the second teen to be actual humans technically, and sometimes he would impress himself when he's reminded that he somehow has control over the maniacs around him. "I hope your travels weren't too stressful."

Cris nodded. "Thank you Mr. Saxton, I heard you have a new place for us."

"Indeed" The second teen spoke. He, unlike his German cohort, was British, and he wore a huge coat, with a mining lantern attached to his hip, a pair of goggles on his head, and a scarf with his writing on it. On the front of it, it read 火, and on the back it read 水. To finish himself he wore some boots which were designed by Saxton and made by him. "If everyone could take a seat."

Ten seats, and ten different people filled each of those seats. Each one from a different world, a different universe, a different reality than the other. "So? What's the news? I simply hope I didn't miss anything too important for this important meeting of ours." Said one being made of smoke and wearing a hoodie made from smoke as well. His face never looked right, with a smile too wide and eyes too swirly, so much so that Cris could swear that you could lose yourself in them if you stare for too long, and his voice, although as airy as Jack-o, was almost the complete opposite with so much bass and deepness in the air when he spoke. 

"You didn't, I can assure you Joy." Said Saxton. "Thanks to Cinos, we found a universe quite intriguing and in grave danger." 

Cinos, a small skeleton no taller than three feet and who's eyes held two white irises in the dark shadows of his empty skull and his cheeks with tattoos of the sun and moon, and his forehead with a long tattoo of an olive branch, cowered beneath the table, some bones rattling could be heard. 

"And what is the story of this universe you speak of?" Jackal asked.

"From our research, it seems to be about these hunters and huntresses that battle day and night against these creatures called Grimm, who threaten to destroy their world."

"Man, do you hear that Jack?" Another robot asked. It was a white fox animatronic, or rather it tried to be that, but the unfortunate reality was it was a mess, an amalgamation of what its creator wanted, with four spider-like-legs and a puppet on its left hand. The robot looked to be in terrible condition, missing most of its fur and its endoskeleton being exposed in certain areas, its movements rough and jerky, its voice drowned with static at times. The puppet looked towards the robot with high interest, its eyes only X's, its mouth sewn shut, its body made of brown cloth, its design cheaply made and its voice box with as much static as his friend. "Sure did Isic. Sounds like we got ourselves a Grimm situation!" The two robots bursted into laughter which, although in good intentions, sounded so broken, so disoriented and filled with so much static, it made even B.D and Zim slightly uncomfortable. 

"Right." Said Zim, breaking their laughter. "So what are we doing here? Give us those coordinates and let's get a move on!"

"Not so fast Zim. There's one minor issue we've yet to discuss." Said the teen with the scarf.

"Yeah, and what's that Kokichi?"

"These Grimm are much more stronger than we originally thought. They've become immune to our attacks and have evolved to the point of only being affected by Dust, a resource common in this world named Remnant." 

"Great. I don't suppose anyone has any spare dust." 

"Not to worry. You will be fetching it for us." Kokichi assured Zim.

"Excuse me?"

"We're sending you along with Cris, Joy, B.D, and Jack-o as a scouting team to find out more about this universe. We shall provide you a map and pictures of what dust looks like. Any questions?"

"Do we get paid for this?"

"Any questions that aren't stupid?" 

"HEY!" Zim shouted, causing the room to be filled with laughter. 

Jackal sighed. "Universe number?"

Saxton took out a small tablet and skimmed through it for a bit before stopping. "Universe RWBY-347."

Jackal's eyes widen, but he did his best so that no one would notice as he quickly skimmed through the book. "Knock yourselves out." Jackal tossed his book across the table towards Kokichi. 

"You're not going to need this?"

"I know this story like the back of my hand Kokichi. Don't forget who I am."

Kokichi rolled his eyes. "Right. As for the five of you, you already got your universe number, so you should be good to go."

Saxton held out a small piece of paper with coordinates. "I suggest you start here. Not only is the scenery beautiful, but the amount of knowledge hidden here might be useful for locating dust."

Cris took the paper and began placing the coordinates into his ring. "Thanks Mr. Saxton. Ready everyone? Mr. Jack-o?" Zim and B.D nodded sporadically, Joy gave a wide smile, and Jack-o looked up from his seat and, after a little contemplation, nodded. Once all agreed, Cris tossed the ring and the five of them left, but before Cris could leave, Cinos stopped him and handed him a small doll in the shape of one of the Grimm that Cris saw. Cris smiled and patted Cinos on his head, making his bone rattle gleefully. "Don't worry. Once I find Ms. Ruby, I'll hand her the doll. I'm sure she'll love it!" And with a nod, Cris left for his team, leaving the other 5 teens alone. Kokichi sighed and poured himself another glass of tea.

"Poor Jack-o."

"Indeed. But..." Saxton drifted away, unsure as what to say as he held out a Jammie Dodger to his friend. Kokichi grabbed it and placed it on the table, looking back at the book. This time it showed a girl in yellow and orange, and he looked closer. "You've got a huge interest for that girl, huh?"

"Her power...The way she fights and defeats Grimm...it's amazing...her-"

"AHEM. THE DOOR?" Jackal pointed towards the door, which was still locked. Saxton laughed, then opened the door so that the three remaining people could leave. 

Kokichi couldn't help but giggle too. "As I was saying, her skills are incredible. She's such an amazing person, her strength, her speed, her-"

"Looks and special assets as well Mr. Kokichi? I won't lie, she looks like a very beautiful woman, but personality is the selling point, and you haven't even said hi to her yet." Saxton stated bluntly, making Kokichi blush.

"I didn't want it to be that blunt!"

Saxton himself another cup of tea and gave Kokichi a kiss "Come on, we've been together for three years now, I can read you like a book." 

Kokichi gave a small laugh, but then went serious for a moment. "Then, do you think I could...?"

Saxton looked towards Kokichi and took a small sip of tea. "Are you sure she can handle it? According to the book she is a year one huntress in training and you are a specialized universe jumper, it's like beating up a newborn." 

"Ok well now that's just sad." 

"All I'm saying is that maybe it's best to simply continue reading about her, see her accomplishments and achievements and then decide if she's ok to fight or not. Just remember her age and her inexperience." 

Kokichi nodded, and gave Saxton a kiss on the cheek. "It says here she once took down an entire griffin and adult death stalker along with her team. Seems she's strong when combined with her friends."

Saxton smirked. "Just like reading a Tinder bio."

"IT IS NOT- SHUT UP!" Kokichi playfully punched Saxton, and they both ended up In a laughing fit as Kokichi continued to blush, Saxton continued to tease, and the five scouts began their journey into Remnant. 


	3. Exploration

Silence. Pure, utter silence filled the forest just outside of Beacon academy. The only bundle of noises that disturbed this silence were the birds chirping, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees as leaves fell to the ground, until they were once again picked up by the wind, and the occasional Grimm either killing an innocent citizen of Remnant, or a hunter or huntress killing a not-so-innocent Grimm of the same world. These sounds had became customary inside the forest, but one sound, more foreign to even the forest itself, came to life: the sound of five teenagers racing through a gateway in search of dust crystals. The five misfits landed in the forest, and once they caught their bearings, marveled at the sheer beauty of the location they happen to land in. 

Zim was not one to marvel at scenery so much as the rest of his crew, but he gave them their time before reminding them of what they're here for. "I know how much you eye-candy loving dum dums love looking at trees and insects and literally anything that we've seen 1,000 times, but we have something important to do! So can we please look for whatever this thing is?" Zim pulled out his communicator, which showed that Saxton had sent them a picture of what looked like multi-colored gemstones, each one labeled with a different element. Fire for the red gem, water for the blue gem, and so on and so forth. Included with the message was a map of the world they landed in, and Zim happily scribbled on his communicator 'We are here' with a sharpie with a big black dot right in the middle of the map, which Cris was extremely certain that it was nowhere close to where they actually were. "OK!" Zim continued, "Let's get started! I do believe north is...that way?" Zim pointed in a random direction, and Cris pulled out his compass and gently pushed Zim's hand to north.

"North is that way, but the place Mr. Saxton want us is..." Cris continued, pushing Zim's hand to south "That way. Lead the way Mr. Zim."

/////

Silence. It had found another place to grow with little to no disturbance, nothing to prevent it from claiming the land for itself. All except four teens. But these teens were almost as quiet as the silence itself, they were taught that during their classes to protect them from any unwanted threats. The teen cloaked in red signaled for the team to advance, avoiding every leaf and looking out for any unsuspecting Grimm. Once they found their new hiding spot, they all sighed with relief. 

"Either these Grimm are on vacation or they've evolved like crazy. I can't find any of them." Whispered Yang. 

"Not sure whether to take that as a good or bad thing." Responded Weiss.

"I'd say good thing. Less conflict for when this is over." Whispered Blake.

Ruby could only sigh. They had been tasked by Oobleck to time themselves for an hour and see how long they could last in the forest. The point was for the students to understand that the Grimm are much more powerful than they had originally thought. And it worked like everything Oobleck had forced them to do. Some kids shot the warning signal in ten minutes flat. Others ran out of the forest, just glad to be alive. But Ruby's team had a different problem. They couldn't find any Grimm. Yang had almost, out of sheer boredom, shouted to get a Grimm's attention, but the rest of the team were quick to shut her up. Now they had seven minutes left on the clock, and things were looking pretty good so far. 

"Seems were one of the last ones remaining." Blake noted, looking at her scroll. There were only a few teams remaining, nine to be precise, which was a huge downgrade from the original 245. In just 53 minutes, the forest had successfully weeded out 236 teams, giving them a lesson of a lifetime. Some remaining teams probably just stayed in 1 location and simply are waiting for the timer to go off, missing the whole point of the lesson. Others might've just been extremely lucky like Ruby's team.

Silence had once again taken over the team, there was nothing to discuss about with everything that was happening. Six minutes remained. Then Ruby finally spoke. "Hey Weiss...umm...What are you going to do after this?"

Weiss remained silent, but acknowledged Ruby's question. Truth be told, she didn't have an answer to her question, there simply was no good answer. Train for Grimm, work on her weapon some more, learn how to use her semblance better, that was the obvious answer, but it felt like it wasn't a good enough answer. There was a much better answer out there, but she could never figure out how to put it into words. _What am I going to do after this?_ Weiss thought. "Well..." Weiss began. "I was thinking maybe...Train for Grimm...Polish my weapon...Perfect my semblance...What about you?"

"Well I was thinking maybe...Train for Grimm...Hang out with my best friend...Polish my weapon...Hang out with my best friend...Perfect my semblance...And I think I'll go and hang out with my best friend." Responded Ruby. The way she said that entire sentence, the wording, the tone of voice, the dorky way that Ruby delivered that was not only the one way Weiss wanted to word it, but it even made her giggle at just how silly it was, but she made sure to contain her laughter as to not cause a disturbance.

Finally, Weiss composed herself and spoke up. "Well, Ruby Rose, that sounds like a very busy day of yours..." and once again she stopped, unknowing how to form the words.

Ruby giggled. "Sure, you can tag along." And Weiss' face gave a soft smile of relief. Just five minutes remained, then they can-

"AAAAAGH!"

"What the hell was that?!" The team sprang to their feet, and heard a scream, followed by a loud crash and the sound of a tree falling over. Someone was in trouble.

"We have to go and help them!" Ruby demanded, but knowing her team they were way ahead of her, and the team quickly ran to help whoever was in trouble.

///// 

_CRASH!!_

Cris was sent flying and was knocked into a nearby tree, which fell over due to the sheer force and would've landed on top of him if B.D didn't quickly catch him.

"T-thanks for the save Mr. B.D!" 

"Just doing my duty dudey!" Joked B.D. But the danger was still ahead of them. A creature, pitch dark with a skeleton sticking out of it, with the look of a overgrown wolf. Cris quickly placed his axe away and quickly pulled out his bow and readied an arrow, took aim, and fired at the beast’s head. It was a direct hit, but the creature wasn't even phased. 

The creature gave out a bellowing roar, which was quickly silenced by a metal hook, courtesy of Jack-o, hooking it in its lower jaw, and Jack-o gave a hard pull. But the jaw didn't budge, and the creature pulled out the hook with ease and followed the chain to its owner, until it was interrupted by a barrage of bullets. Zim had pulled out his weapon, a tommy gun, and empty every cartridge he had stocked into the beast. But like everything they've done, it had little to no effect, except the creature had a new target. It lunged at Zim, until it was once again cut off by a sharp scythe made of smoke, belonging to Joy, who swung with all his might, but the creature was mightier, and had broken the scythe and might've broken Joy too if Cris hadn't gotten its attention with his axe. The creature turned to Cris, who quickly etched a rune into his axe and shouted “létt!”, which blinded the beast with light, giving Joy enough time to flee and the five teens grouped together for another plan, any plan to save their skins.

"Ya know" Zim began "Animals usually die when I empty a billion bullets into them..."

"But Saxton said they're only affected by dust. I thought he meant they would be weaken by the dust, not become immune to everything but the dust!" Exclaimed Cris. 

"None of us have dust, we have to retreat, before-" Began Joy, but the Grimm interrupted with a roar. The Grimm charged at the crew, as they all prepared themselves for a final stand, until...

_BANG!_

The Grimm was knocked back by a blast, and the misfits turned to see a large red scythe, and on the other end of it was a young teen cloaked in red. Behind her came three more teens. One in a dress of white, another with a jacket of yellow, and finally one cladded in black. The Grimm roared and lunged at them, but the teens were quick and dodged the lunged, and the Grimm unknowingly ran head first into the sharp end of the red teen's scythe and, with a shine of red and flames, was sliced into two. The Grimm fell to the floor and disappeared into smoke and dust.

The crew was speechless. Team RWBY was curious. A timer went off, which Blake quickly turned off. But that didn't distract any of them from what had just occurred. The only thing any of them could do was stare. The crew stared at this rag tag team of colorful killers, while team RWBY stared at this band of loose screws.

"T-thank you so much...Ms..." Cris began.

"Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"Cris...OH! UHH. Here's my team! Care to introduce yourselves guys?" Eagerly said Cris.

"I would prefer introductions out of the Grimm infested forest." Weiss advised.

"Oh! Right, agreed."

And thus they left the forest, and silence had once again befallen the forest. Birds chirped, wind blew through trees as leaves fell to the ground, only to be picked up again by the same wind. Pure. Utter. Silence.


	4. Understanding

The universe jumpers had their fair share of wonderous views and scenery, and the forest was one of pure beauty. But the sight of Beacon academy left them with so few words they almost forgot to introduce themselves. Cris, Zim Daxter, Joy, B.D, and Jack-o. And thus the four huntresses did the same. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. As they walked through the pathway to the entrance of Beacon, there was some troubling questions team RWBY had for these people they had just met. The questions came rapid fire style once introductions were out of the way.

"What were you doing there unprepared?" 

"How are you not hurt?"

"What's with the scarecrow, robot, and the creepy smiley guy?" 

Cris, as well as his team, were overwhelmed. "Please! One at a time."

Weiss took the initiative. "Ok, fine. Let's tackle the most important question: what were you doing there unprepared?"

"Looking for dust crystals!" Zim popped up happily. Team RWBY just stood there in awe. Either they're not familiar with where dust is found and they just randomly guessed, or the Grimm hit them harder than they thought.

"But..." Weiss began "Dust is found in quarries...it's underground."

"Oh...That would explain a lot now." Zim replied. "But that beast we fought! If we did have dust crystals, then we would have snuffed him out no time!"

"Please forgive us, we're not from around here, so we're not familiar with how your world works." explained Cris.

Blake was confused "World? As in, you're not from our world?"

Zim quickly squashed himself into the ground, then remerged as a slot machine making a jackpot noise, then turning back to his original form "Correctamento Blakamento!" This made Blake jump a bit and Yang shocked and awed at what occurred. 

"What the heck just happened? Can you do it again?!" 

Zim looked at her and then turned his form into her. It was almost a perfect mirror match, but it was more cartooney and the eyes were replaced with pac-man eyes. "C a N y O U D o I t A g a I n ? !" That's you right now." He spoke with her voice, which made Blake even more scared and Yang even more amazed. 

Cris, however, was a little embarrassed at how terrible these introductions were going. "Allow me to explain. We're from a entirely different universe than you guys, tasked with helping people protect their worlds. We're known as universe jumpers, and we're all from different universes, so we may have different abilities than you. I'm a water entity and bender, Zim is an Ink entity and shapeshifter, B.D is a robot who can move at quick speeds, Joy is a smoke entity who can mold his smoke into different shapes and items, and Jack-o is a scarecrow and illusion maker. What about you guys?"

Ruby was now getting into this "Those are some crazy semblances!" 

"Semblance?"

"Oh, different universe, gotcha. So semblances are-" But before Yang could finish, Weiss spoke quickly.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but are we just going to gloss over the fact that these people are from A ENTIRELY DIFFRENT UNIVERSE?!?!?!" 

"But they seem nice! Can we keep them?" Ruby asked kindly. 

"Wha- NO!!" Weiss exclaimed rudely. 

"I can promise you we mean no harm." Reassured Cris.

"So which one of you is actually in charge?" Asked Ruby.

Zim happily answered "That would depend on your definition of 'In charge', cause Cris-crass here is in charge of us, but the leader and the one behind the operations is a man named Kokichi who is still at home base, and ooooh is he a very angy boi sometimes, I wouldn't want to cross paths with him at the wrong time, especially here."

"Watch where you're walking Zim." Advised Kokichi.

"Oop! Sorry Kokichi. Anyways, Kokichi is RIGHT HERE HOLY CRAP!!!" Zim exclaimed, running and hiding right under Ruby's cape. 

"And hello to you too." Saxton replied, both holding a cup of warm tea and Kokichi carrying a huge brown box like a backpack, with steam coming out from the top. 

Kokichi drank a little more of his tea before speaking again. "Pleasure to meet you team RWBY. I am Kokichi Kira. This is my assistant Saxton Manchester."

Saxton bowed while holding his tea cup and smiled. "Pleasure to meet you."

Cris was happy to see them here. "Mr. Kokichi! Mr. Saxton! What brings you here?"

"We wanted to get a first person view of this wonderful universe, and boy is it wonderful. But I'm actually here for that one." Kokichi stated, pointing towards Yang.

"M-me? Why?" Yang asked. 

"Oh, no reason, just wanted to test how fit these hunters and huntresses were at defending themselves from threats, and what better way to figure that out than to spar with the best of the best?" Yang smiled at the compliment, Saxton gave a small chortle, and Kokichi blushed a small bit while giving an angry look towards Saxton. 

"But while Kokichi is here for sparing, I'm more so here for bargaining, specifically with you Weiss Schnee. We need dust, and fast in order to come up with a plan to help fix this Grimm situation you have and what better person to bargain with than one who's part of the Schnee corporation? The biggest manufacturer of dust, may it be powdered, crystalized, bullet, you name it. Such a pristine person of quality surly shouldn't have a problem bargaining just a little bit of dust to us universe jumpers yes?"

Weiss was flattered, although a little untrustworthy. "Well thank you! It's always good to know that there are still people, even universe jumpers( Whatever that means) would know of the wonders of the Schnee corporation." 

"TEAM RWBY!!!" A loud shout rang through the school, and in no time at all came a fast paced professor racing towards the group, wearing a white shirt, greenish hair, and looked to be so out of control yet somehow keeping it all together. "I have just overheard your conversation with these fine gentlemen unfortunately you must return to class! To be honest no one is actually waiting for you, class has started already and you have already missed approximately 17.3 minutes of lectures."

Kokichi did some counting before being shocked at his result. "WHAT?! But they reported back to you about their adventure in the forest ten minutes ago and there was a five minute passing period. How did you give 17.3 minutes of lectures in only five minutes?"

"If there is a will scarf boy, then there is a way."

Zim quickly rushed out from Ruby's cape and shook hands with the nutjob for a professor in front of him "Pleasure to meet you Mr. Nocluewhatyournameis! I'm Zim, Zim Daxter!"

The professor shook hands with Zim with equal force "Pleasure to make acquaintances with you Mr. Zim, I am Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, and as much as I would love to stay here and chat, I must be heading off to class and you girls must be as well, farewell!" 

"Hold on one second. Uhh….Scarf boy?" Yang quickly said. 

"It's Kokichi Kira but please go on Punchy-girl."

"You wanted to spar with me?"

"SPARRING?!" Shouted Oobleck. "You mean training! And if that's the case why didn't you say so earlier?! I'd be more than happy to show a demonstration to my students on a real fight, especially with folks not from around here! Where are you from Kokichi?"

"A mystical, faraway place known as Splintgear. AKA, Britian. AKA, not here." 

"Ooo! I have absolutely no clue what that place even is! I like it!" Responded Oobleck. 

"I wanted to test your limits Yang, see how much Tai taught you before-hand."

Yang was now serious. 'How much do you know of me?"

Kokichi then pulled out a small notebook, and proceeded to turn to a yellow bookmark, and began reading. "Yang Xiao Long, age 17, female, was trained and raised by her father Taiyang Xiao Long, mother is Raven Branwen, Preferred weapon of choice is a pair of dual ranged shotgun gauntlets, which she has named Ember Celica. Her name translates from my universe's Chinese into "little dragon of sunshine" which fits her father's nickname of "sunny little dragon". She is the Half-sister of Ruby Rose, but Ruby doesn't know that yet, and she is currently finding clues to her mother's whereabouts since she left her at birth." Kokichi stores away the book, then turns to Yang, staring with a fighting intention, while Yang stood shocked, but collected herself. 

_He knows about my mother?_ Thought Yang.

Ruby stood even more shocked. "Yang and I are...Half-sisters?!"

"For information about your personal future, please talk to Cris for more information. Consider it his "semblance"." Yang looked to Cris, who was shocked that Kokichi would even give such a piece of advice. 

"W-well...it's complicated Ms. Yang."

"It's fine, but care to raise the stakes? I win, you tell me where my mother is. If I lose?" Yang tempted.

"What a tempting offer, but i'll pass since I don't know where she is. But to keep your intrest in this fight, i'll offer something else. You win, I will give you a glimpse of the multiverse to see where your mother could possibly be hiding."

Yang was shocked. The whole multiverse? Although it would just be a random guess, it's still might be the one ticket she needs to find her. "And if I lose?"

Kokichi thought for a while "Uhh...I don't know...A kiss on the cheek?" He said, shrugging.

Zim was quick to object "Ok shut up! There's no way I'm going to overlook the fact that one side can win the entire knowledge of the multiverse and the other gets a flippin' KISS! And aren't you and Saxophone dating?!"

Saxton lowered his head "The benfift of being a bisexual couple is we're very understanding of eachother. The downside is that I too kind of want a kiss from her due to her looks and outgoing personality and fighting spirit, but Kokichi is being a jerk and rubbing it in."

"No i'm not, I'm getting it planted on my face." Saxton took a deep breath, holding back a laugh, leading to Kokichi chuckling. "I can change the deal if you want, you don't have to-"

"Eh, whatever. Let's do it."

Kokichi smiled "You're not phased by what happens if you lose?"

Yang smiled "Nah, cause I won't let you win." 

"WONDEROUS! LET THE TRAINING COMENCE!" Shouted Oobleck, and off they went to the training halls, both fighters thirsty for a fight. This was going to get wild fast. 


	5. Playing with fire

Beacon is large, with many facilities and locations for students to train and hone their skills to prepare for the outside world, especially in times like these, where their world is much more dangerous than it ever has been. But in order to train those skills, patience sometimes has to be thrown out the window, and pressure becoming your best ally. Strength and wit being your best weapons, and dust being the final piece to the puzzle for survival. When it comes to a dog eats dog world, the best training you can do is against your own kind, humanity against humanity for the benefit of survival. What one may see disarray and disorder, could actually be the most teamwork you will ever see in this blighted world of despair. Today, all of Beacon would know of such a wonder. 

"STUDENTS!" Shouted Doctor Oobleck "I have decided that today you will witness something quite extraordinary! A true battle between Ms. Yang Xiao Long, and a newbie here Mr. Kokichi Kira!" The students were excited to see this. An actual fight? That's being allowed by a teacher of all people! This was going to be good. "However, I expect you all to turn in at least half a page of notes of what fighting styles and skills you saw on both sides by tomorrow morning." And then the room was filled with groans. "That includes you too Mr. Zim Daxter and company."

"AWW! Seriously?!" 

Saxton was quick to smack Zim on the back of his head. "Less complaining, more note writing. You might learn something."

"Indeed you will." Said Kokichi, setting his stuff down besides Saxton. "Please watch my stuff, to keep this fight fair I'm only taking Bindlebane." 

"Understood." Saxton then took Kokichi's hand and smiled. "Remember. You're here to learn about her, not prove your superiority." 

Kokichi nodded and gave a quick kiss on Saxton's forehead. "I promise to try to learn and study. She's a human, not an experiment." And with that, Kokichi left for the center stage, repeating what he had said to Saxton in a whispering volume to himself. 

Yang was pumped, already taking practice swings like a boxer, and Ruby was slightly worried. "You've never fought anyone like them before! What if they have like alien technology? What if they have...tentacles?" Ruby asked and squirmed at the idea, and all Yang could do was roll her eyes.

"Come on lil' sis, I trust these guys to be as human as I am strong." Yang suddenly stopped. She looked to Ruby and got a little worried. "Hey...Ruby. About the...Half-sister thing..."

Ruby latched onto Yang in the tightest hug she could possibly form. "I don't care. You'll always be my Big sis! And I'm sure we can both find your mother, and I'm sure she'd be more than happy to accept me as her second daughter. That's what mother's do. I have no idea what caused her to leave you, but I promise, we'll find her." Yang was in tears, hugging Ruby tight. 

Soon they both let go of each other and Yang smiled. "Thanks Ruby. I really needed that." She then looked towards Kokichi, who was looking at them and smiling. He then turned and walked towards the center stage. "Heh, I guess you were right sis, maybe they're not as bad as Weiss thought. But I'm still not gonna go easy on him. All I need to do is win the fight, so I'll just do what I do best, like with Junior." Yang gave a high five to her sis and left for the stage, getting a good look at Kokichi's weapon, which was some sort of sniper rifle. This was going to be a cake walk if that's the case. "Just like with Junior." 

"Ladies and Gentlmen, and those who are still making up your mind!" Shouted Zim, along with Doctor Oobleck. The time had come, both fighters were ready to throw down.

"I hope you're prepared for what's about to come, Kokichi Kira." Said Yang. 

Kokichi studied Yang carefully. After a while, he felt ready. "Trust me, I'm as prepared as I can ever be, Yang Xiao Long."

"An interesting match, wouldn't you say Ms. Ruby Rose?" Saxton asked. He brought with him the large brown box Kokichi and placed it down. 

Ruby nodded "Are fights like this common where you come from Mr.?"

"Mr. Saxton. And well, depends where in the universe you come from. But we occasionally train amongst one another." Saxton smiled and watched as Zim and Oobleck were acting like referees at the front of the class.

"Alrighty then! I want a nice, not-very-clean fight. That's what gets the most views nowadays. Weapons ready?"Kokichi revealed his Bindlebane, while Yang showed off Ember Celica. 

Saxton placed down the wooden box Kokichi had carried around and opened it, which revealed a whole tea set, a water jug, and a stove powered by steam technology. "Kokichi had this built for us so we could unwind and relax wherever we headed. He's such a wonderful person. I'm sure your sister is much the same with you?"

Ruby nodded "We have each other's backs. She's possibly the best thing to ever happen to me." 

Saxton smiled at her sincerity. _This universe is extraordinary. It's been so long since I've seen such kindness and compassion in such a world._ He thought. He then placed the teapot, filled with water, onto the stove and looked at Ruby and her other teammates. "Care for some tea?"

"OKI DOKI! On go!" Here goes everything.

"Three..." Oobleck began, both fighters looking with certainty on what to do.

"Two..." Zim continued, both fighters with weapons already pointed at each other. 

"One..." Zim and Oobleck continued, getting out of the way for the fight to occur. This is when Oobleck pulled on a small lever at the end of the classroom, and a forcefield appeared, separating the fighters from the other students. "I've always wanted to pull that lever!" Exclaimed Oobleck. 

"GO!" Shouted them both, and Yang charged, firing a blast at Kokichi, who swiftly dodged it and took out his weapon and aimed it right at Yang's face. Bindlebane was a sniper rifle on one end, and a handy pistol on the other, all designed by Kokichi himself. 

"And now, you're finished." Kokichi said, pulling the trigger and sending Yang flying with an energy blast from his weapon. The crowd gasped, and Ruby had gotten worried. That was a direct hit from a weapon, a sniper rifle to make matters worse. But before anyone could usher a word, Yang charged once more, punching Kokichi and sending him to the ground. 

"Not yet, but you might be." Kokichi quickly got up and the fight continued, with Yang keeping the pressure on Kokichi as he carefully dodged every punch and every shotgun blast as he tried to find an opening. At last, he did, and when Yang threw another powerful punch, Kokichi flipped his gun over to reveal the pistol on the other side, and quickly started firing. When Yang was caught off guard, Kokichi quickly thwacked her with his weapon like a baseball bat, sending Yang into a rage, as she threw punch after punch, shotgun blast after shotgun blast, but Kokichi was much too quick. Yang then got an idea, and tried to punch Kokichi, who unsurprisingly dodged it, but surprisingly Yang quickly took off one of her weapons and threw it at Kokichi, who was shocked and dodged the weapon, but not Yang's second punch, and her shotgun blast, sending Kokichi flying. Kokichi got up, and the fight continued.

"Incredible." Exclaimed Saxton. "She has taken so many hits and so many energy blasts and yet she's still standing."

Ruby smiled "That's what makes her so special. It's her semblance ability. Every hit she takes, she gets stronger."

"A literal damage sponge? Kokichi might have trouble with this. Your sister sounds like an incredible fighter."

"I know right?! She's such an amazing person once you get to fully know her...Why do you guys know so much about her?"

Saxton took a sip from his tea and sighed. "We read it in a book once. It's extremely complicated, and due to a certain member being very protective of that info, I cannot, and will not, explain. But if you'd be so kind as to answer my question: If she's so strong, why are hunters and huntresses like her having so much trouble with this Grimm problem?"

Ruby frowned "It has tons upon tons of factors. Grimm being attracted by negative thoughts, their constant evolving, and the fact that dust is expensive nowadays, all thanks to the constant robberies made by...HIM." 

"A certain Roman Torchwick I presume?"

Ruby's eyes brightened "You sure know so much yet so little don't you?"

Saxton giggled, and continued watching the fight. "You tussled with him once if I recall." 

"Yeah, he was tough, and this weird girl in red came and saved him before we could catch him."

Saxton thought for a moment. "How curious."

"You know her?"

"Well, yes, but I would prefer you find out yourself on who she is. I just thought something interesting Cris once told me. If people can get along in a world, then I'm sure we could save a certain select few."

Ruby's eyes widen "Are you implying that we can turn Roman into a good guy?"

Saxton grinned "Well, like your instructor said. If there's a will..."

Ruby smiled "Then there is a way."

The fight raged on, Kokichi and Yang looking both almost out of breath, and Yang was still eager to deal the finishing blow. She charged once more, Kokichi firing a single shot at her before quickly getting out of the way as yang fired a shotgun blast in his direction. Ruby gasped, and Saxton's eyes widen. Yang realized that the sniper blast cut a small piece of her hair off, and Kokichi realized that his scarf had a small tear in it. Yang was livid, charging at Kokichi with all her might and firing a shotgun blast at him, but he dodged, grabbing her remaining weapon and carefully pulling off her arm, and then proceeding to deck her in the face with it, sending her flying into a nearby wall. 

"You know, you should learn to hit smarter, not harder." Yang quickly ran to grab the ember celica she threw earlier, but she wasn't quick enough. All weapons of every person has a special place in people's hearts, it's what defines you as a person, like a good luck charm or your favorite shirt. So every student in the room could feel Yang's despair when she witnessed Kokichi firing at her weapon and destroying it. Yang looked towards Kokichi, who looked livid at what she did to his scarf. "I advise you to run like your life depends on it, because it does." And Yang ran, sniper blast after sniper blast was fired and Yang needed to find the other ember celica before he could catch up to her. Soon she did and quickly placed it on her arm and ran towards Kokichi to deal the final blow. But she never got the chance to pull the trigger. Kokichi charged at her, took his weapon and thwacked Yang on her leg, then when she tripped he fired at her right arm, which would've broken it if her aura didn't save her first. Kokichi still knocked her down, and that's all he wanted. "I honestly hoped for a better fight. I wanted to see the strength of the hunters and huntresses of this world, but all I see is a failure of both a huntress and a big sister who's not even strong enough to defend her little sister. Well, half sister to be more precise. But enough about that, let's settle what you did to my scarf." Kokichi grabbed his weapon with two hands and readied himself, pulling a small handle, which made the weapon whirr to life, adding two additional scopes, and he aimed right at Yang. 

"This isn't good. I have no clue If Yang can take such a blast..." Saxton noted. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked on. Ruby was determined that Yang could take that shot, she was Yang after all. Weiss was uncertain for either side, but deep down hoped that Kokichi would lose so her business with Saxton could possibly go in a much more desired direction. Blake was the only one who had placed two and two together. 

"Oobleck! Are you sure she's going to be ok?" Oobleck took one look towards Kokichi and Yang, and then back at Blake, giving her only a blank stare. 

Kokichi sighed with disappointment. "The great Yang Xiao Long, one of the most powerful fighters here, reduced to a pathetic mess on the floor." Yang was now angry, quickly getting up and charged at Kokichi, but he was quick and tossed his Bindlebane into the air and grabbed the ember celica right off her arm once more and tried breaking her arm again, but her aura prevented that from happening. Yang was hurt, and Kokichi caught his weapon, which was continually whirring with life. " Just a big hot air balloon of rage, punching away until the problem's gone, ain't cha? Can't protect those you love when your hot-headed tactics FAIL YOU!!" The weapon whirred louder, it glowed with a blue hue as energy built up in the sniper rifle. Yang grew more desperate. Yang grew irritated at the over-confident voice. 

Yang stood up finally through the pain "So these are your true colors?"

Kokichi stood still "I prefer the term blunt and honest with myself." He pointed the pistol half of his gun at ember celica and fired, destroying the weapon in a single blast. Yang would've been livid, but anger could only got her so far now. Without the fire power she needed, how could she get through his quick defenses and land a good hit. Unless...

"Yang...I will be honest with you. Your determination, your hope to save your friends is immeasurable. But this is just sad. How will you fare against a shot like this?"

Yang looked onward "You know I could dodge that right? You think you can shoot me with that? Don't forget I'm fast too."

"And what makes you think you can dodge this?"

Yang looked on "Well Scarf-boy, If there's a will...Then there's a way."

"Good lesson, but I have a favor to ask of you instead." Kokichi readied his finger on the trigger. He gave one last look towards Yang. Through her pain she smiled. That smile...Somehow it felt like acid to Kokichi, just seeing the smile. But it also felt like something he was missing. And indeed he was missing something: Yang, who had dashed behind and gave a hard knock on the back of his head, sending him flying into the edge of the arena. Yang charged, all she needed was one good hit and she won. One good hit, that's all it took. But Kokichi beat her to the shot, by aiming his weapon right at her as she charged while he was laying down "Never stop evolving." The weapon gave a soft _ding_ sound and Kokichi pulled the trigger. The weapon whirred as loud as it could, and a huge beam of energy shot from the bindlebane directly into Yang. 

All she saw was a bright light, and then all the rest of the students saw, what Ruby, Weiss, Blake saw, was a huge explosion, which almost shattered the protective forcefield. All the students heard was a loud crash as Yang's body crashed into the wall behind her. Yang gave one last punch to end a fight. Kokichi ended it for her.

"YAAAANG!" Shouted Blake, who ran towards Oobleck and Zim and pulled on the Lever and the forcefield went down. Kokichi got up and saw Blake running towards Zim and Oobleck, then he turned and saw Saxton, who had a look of worry in his eyes. Kokichi shared the same look of worry in his eyes. 

Kokichi placed his bindlebane away, and looked towards the smoke. He saw the determination in her eyes, the hope this universe needed to survive. And he had killed it with one shot. He took a few steps towards the smoke and then trembled to his knees. There was nothing for him to say, nothing for him to do. He had begun tearing up, but not because he might've killed her, he saw the protective shield around her, she was perfectly fine. It was the damage he had done to her that really got him so far down. He got up, tears still falling, and began to walk away from the stage until he fell to his knees again. Blake had begun shouting for Yang, and he had reality smash him hard on the skull. What if he did kill her at the last moment? He quickly got up and ran towards the smoke, stumbling along the way, barely able to make the sounds he wanted to make. “Y-Yang, Yang for F**ks sake please be ok! YANG!" 

Yang would've probably said something silly, maybe crack a pun or a dumb joke to make people feel better. But all that remained was the desperate shouts made by Blake and Kokichi. But one sound broke both in half; The sound of Yang, dashing towards Kokichi and gut-punching him. Kokichi coughed hard, a bit of blood spilling from his mouth. He looked up and saw Yang, looking down at him and smiling. That smile...was very contagious. Kokichi gave a heartfelt, weak laugh before they both passed out on the ground. 


	6. Promise

Kokichi's eyes worked as hard as he could force them too. He had been asleep for far too long, it was time to wake up. The first thing he noticed was how bright it was, so it must've been the afternoon. Then he noticed Saxton sitting next to him, drinking tea and eating a single Jammie Dodger. Saxton swallowed, and looked towards Kokichi. "How did my love sleep?" 

Kokichi fell into tears. Saxton was surprised to see the sudden change in emotion. "Y-Yang...I...I shouldn't have..." Kokichi clenched his fists as tight as possible, rage building up inside him. 

"Well seeing your current form and emotional build up, I say you're good to go." Saxton informed. Kokichi looked confused, then Saxton held out his hand, his palm facing kokichi's face. "We've been together for three years now so you should know I will only offer this once: Punch me."

Kokichi wasted no time, and threw the hardest punch he could muster. Saxton didn't move, he wasn't even imbalanced by the punch, but it made Kokichi feel so much better, and he fell into tears once more, and fell into Saxton's arms in a warm embrace. "I was so stupid...Just fire the bloody thing at her, she can handle it. My anger...It got the better of me, and it shouldn't have. I made a promise to you and I broke it like a twig.The kids...They only saw it as some show, I could see half of them didn't even register what had happened. It's a wonder only Blake went to see if Yang was ok, how could we? We all assumed the best for Yang, she could take it, she's so strong, she's going to come out of that smoke and knock his socks off..." Kokichi held on tighter, Saxton could only hug tighter in return. There was nothing for him to do. "I...I-I Could...I COULD'VE KILLED HER SAXTON. I COULD'VE KILLED AN INNOCENT WOMAN ALL BECAUSE IM AN EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE F**KING MESS!" Kokichi fell into an emotional breakdown of sorrow and ugly crying, while Saxton could only sit next to him and listen to his every word. "Saxton." Kokichi said through the many tears he had. "I want you to punch me, I want you just deck me right in the-" and Saxton kissed Kokichi as hard as he could, silencing the young adult. After a minute, the kiss was broken, and Kokichi was calm again.

Saxton hugged Kokichi. "What you did may not have been the right thing, but I'm sure Yang would understand in due time. I believe full-heartedly that what you did was simply an emotional trigger from your scarf, and what Yang did was an emotional trigger from you shooting off a piece of her hair." Kokichi looked for his scarf, which was lying on the table, and the tear was patched up. "By the way, speaking of your scarf, why did you bring it with you in there in the first place?"

"If Yang actually got out of control, consider that scarf to be my insurance policy, but you plainly saw how well that went."

Saxton began rubbing Kokichi's ear, which sent him into a blushing state "Aww, my poor scarf-boy got angry and hurt. Are you ok?"

Kokichi held onto Saxton's hand and nodded, but quickly removed the hand when an important question struck Kokichi "How long have I've been out? And how is Yang?"

"Two days, and Yang is still out. Blake has been visiting her daily, but I could already see the hope draining from her eyes. Perhaps your awakening could boost her hopes?"

"Blake losing hope already by day Two?"

"I believe it's due to her not being used to these new emotions for her friend. You do know of her secret."

"Yeah yeah, I rather let it happen naturally but if this hurries up the process then works for me."

Saxton placed his drink down and pondered for a bit. "These hunters and huntresses...bless their hearts."

"Indeed. They fight for this world with all their might, but at the end of the day they're still just teens."

"So are you but I don't hear any universal overlord complaining."

Kokichi giggled "With enough training I'm sure they'll be able to take on this threat..." Kokichi went silent.

"And with our help?"

"I would love to help this universe but where do we even start? Remnant is large and there's so much to look out for. Grimm, the White Fang, Salem, the relics, and let us not forget the fact that we need dust to even combat the Grimm. Speaking of which..."

"Trade negotiations went well. Weiss Schnee has agreed to give us exactly two crates full of 20 dust crystals, five bags worth of powdered dust, and three ammo boxes worth of dust powered bullets of every element for the low payment of 100,000 lien."

"Oh yeah...LOW." 

"Consider yourself lucky. Those would've costed you 574,000 lien on the regular market nowadays."

"And how did she take the whole "from another world" thing?"

"She showed me the dust, I showed her the multiverse."

Kokichi's face went blank. "Well...Yeah, I mean, that works."

"I answered all the questions she could think of. It's only fair she gets to know considering my boyfriend just knocked out her friend."

"Then I guess it's settled. Together, all ten of us are going to save this-"

"KOKICHI!!" Shouted Zim, running towards Kokichi and latching onto him like a parasite, causing Kokichi to panic, Zim to hug tighter, and Saxton to laugh. The rest of the team came into the room to witness two amazing sights: Kokichi screaming a bazillion curse words as Zim is latched onto his face, and Kokichi waking up for the first time in two days.

/////

Yang's eyes struggled, and soon she got them open, taking in the dark night lights and ambient nursing room noises. She looked over to see Blake sitting next to her, staring at the ground. "I hope you're having sweet dreams there." Blake commented. Yang was about to make a joke on that, something to lighten up Blake's mood immediately, but Blake started to cry. "Look...You can't even hear me, so why do I even bother anymore? This is...the fourth day I come to see you and you're still..." Blake couldn't continue and broke down.

Yang began to tear up as well. _Four days?! I've been out for four days?!"_ Yang thought. 

"But still" Blake continued through the tears. "I should've been a bit more open with you. I should've asked you to hang out or something. And there's a chance where you might not even wake up. They said it was a very small chance but...BUT..." Blake clenched her fists. "I might have lost that chance. I might have lost the chance to just become closer to you! Just to break out of my shell and say "Good morning Yang. I hope you slept well." And we could go and eat breakfast and maybe go bird watching or something stupid like that." Yang almost laughed at the idea, but kept quiet to hear the rest of what Blake said. "But...Yeah..." Blake grabbed onto Yang's hand tight. "I might stop coming by like...maybe day seven or something. I can't keep doing this. I can't let my emotions just overtake me and cost me my life, all because I lo...liked a friend too much. Wishing you would magically come back one day..."

Yang clenched her hand around Blake, and Blake jumped a bit, and looked at Yang directly, tears still running down her cheeks. "Then is today a bad day to come back?"

Blake hugged Yang as tight as possible, accompanied by muffled sounds on how Yang shouldn't have made such a joke because she scared the daylights out of her. "Daylights? But Blake, it's nighttime!"

Blake punched Yang's side, attempting to muffle her laughter at the stupid joke. Yang returned the hug. "So...Wanna still go bird watching?"

"I didn't literally mean we go birdwatching." Said a muffled Blake.

"But would you like to?"

"...sure..."

/////

"WELP! THIS WAS AN ADVENTURE AND A HALF!" Shouted Zim, who took one of the Schnee crates containing the dust and tossed through the jumper ring's gateway, ignoring the fragility labels on it. 

"It was wonderful to be with you guys! Once we have a game plan, we promise we'll return and beat those Grimm to a unrecognizable paste!" Exclaimed Cris.

"We'll be happily waiting." Ruby assured. All the universe jumpers waved goodbye and left through the ring.

All except Kokichi, who looked back and smiled. "Oi! Punchy-girl." Yang looked towards Kokichi. "I'm glad to see you growing to be a proud huntress...I'm sure your mother would be proud." Yang looked on and smiled. "However, that last fight ended in a tie. I wanna break it like a twig. Rematch when I get back?"

All of team RWBY immediately denied the request, all except Yang. "You're on Scarf-boy! But you owe me a new pair of gauntlets!"

"I promise, I'll bring you some that are better than ever!" Kokichi left through the gateway, but before it closed, Cris ran right past him and shoved something into Ruby's hands, which was a small doll in the shape of one of the many Grimm founded in her world.

"A gift from Cinos! I'm so sorry Ms. Ruby, I completely forgot to hand it to you after all this time! Oh right! Uhh, see you soon!!" And with a smile and a final farewell, the universe jumpers left for their home universe as the gateway closed behind them. 

Ruby looked at Yang with a bucket full of disappointment as she cuddled with her new doll. "Why? Why would you agree to that?!"

"UHH...Cause I want to break that tie too! Duh."

Weiss was almost speechless. "You passed out last time."

"Oh please...Professor Oobleck said my fighting was terrific, except the whole passing out part, but he gave me a freebee on the next homework assignment for it. So I guess you could say that homework assignment is "passed"."

All Weiss could do was curl up into a nice, tight ball on the ground and cringe. "And I was having a good day too." 

Blake giggled a bit before Yang grabbed her arm. "Come on! it's already 11Am! You know what that means?"

Blake smiled. "Bird watching time."

/////

Kokichi yawned and stretched once the gateway had closed, and immediately started looking for Jackal. "Oi! Jackal! We need you."

"Present." Said the same old man voice. Jackal was still reading the same book he had before, but this time he looked more interested in what he was reading.

"So how bad is their universe? How much time do we have to prepare?"

Jackal smiled "In five years time, the Grimm will decimate humanity, they will wipe all life from the planet and darkness will consume the universe."

Kokichi smiled "Five years. That's more than enough time to get some hands-on research on these dust thingamajigs."

"No...We don't have five years. We have two." Said Cris, very seriously.

Zim was flabbergasted "Two?! How did we go from five to two?! And says who?!"

Cris looked at Zim, and said with 100% certainty "Ruby's blood. It told me everything. Team RWBY will die in two years time!" 


	7. Destined

"It was awful." Stated Cris. "She was on an airship with Mr. Roman and Ms. Neo. She was about to fall off the airship, and Ms. Neo was going to stab her off. But she opened her umbrella, sending Ms. Neo flying and..." Cris became silent. It was so straining for him to keep explaining what he saw. 

Jackal had to know what had happened though. "Please, continue." He insisted.

"...Ms. Neo was eaten mid air by a griffin. Mr. Roman was furious and beat Ms. Ruby to a...to a bloody mess. Then he shot her...And then Mr. Roman was eaten by another griffin, and Ms. Ruby...passed away on that airship..."

Kokichi felt guilty. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told them about your ability just so bluntly like that."

"It's ok Mr. Kokichi. Ms. Ruby was weirded out on how my ability worked, with the whole 'I drink a drop of your blood and I know everything about you including your future' kind of deal...I mean, at least Ms. Ruby knows and is better prepared for the worst, right?"

Zim was stunned "Well...hate to rain on your parade, but that might've changed the future, just telling her future might've...done something?"

Cris went silent, his eyes filled with fear. Zim could be right. He might've just made a grave mistake. Zim went silent, and Cinos ran to Cris, comforting him quickly. Kokichi and Saxton stood pondering. 

"Nope, the future is still the same." Jackal noted, looking into his book. "Five years time and everyone goes bye-bye."

"Oh thank bloody Christ." Kokichi said. The future was still grim, but at least nothing major changed. 

"But Zim's point might still stand. The book doesn't tell of Ruby's death, the only way we figured that out was by Cris. The future might still change, Ruby could meet her end quicker than expected."

"Then we have no time to lose. Kokichi, shall we begin our research?" Saxton asked. Kokichi nodded, and Zim lifted both crates and carried them to where they needed them. Everyone else went to their respective rooms, all except Jackal, who stopped Cris with a gentle pull on his shoulder.

"Scared, aren't you?"

Cris nodded "How could I not be? I know you lied to them to give them hope, but whatever you saw in that book I saw too. I...I'm not even sure if we're up to something like this. We made a promise to save their universe. It was pure luck that Ms. Ruby decided to learn about her's! I might not be able to save team RWBY, or team JNPR, or anyone for that matter if I'm purely reliant on luck alone!"

"I know, I know. But telling them outright what would happen at the end of those five years would cause us some...issues, you know that. The last thing we need is them screwing over destiny's divine plan, right?" Cris nodded, but he continued to look down.

"But still, we can't just keep guesstimating what will happen all the time. Soon enough, we'll be wrong, and we're going to pay dearly for it."

"Then wouldn't it be nice to at least predict the future rather than pay for its consequences?" Cris was curious. Predict the future? The book Jackal carried could only tell so much. "Come with me, let me show you something wonderous." Jackal took Cris by the hand and guided him to his room. Inside contained an entire map of the multiverse that sparkled all around the room, and the walls adorned with more books than Cris could count, and the roof, which looked to be around 50 feet tall, was replaced with more constellations and stars than Cris could count, and a bright blue glowing waterfall filled with stars in the middle of the ceiling that moved way too slow for how big it was, going all the way down to the middle of the room, filling all the lines on the floor with a bright blue light, as each line lead to the edges of the walls which lifted the water back up to the tippy top and the glowing waterfall falling down once more. "You know much about my book yes?"

Cris nodded "It's known as the book of lost dreams Mr. Jackal. It's a book that tells you the history of the current story you're thinking of when you open it, and it tells you how it ends."

"Correct. But it doesn't give you all the details, only as much as the story has progressed. Stories are real, each and every one, separated into different universes, thus creating the multiverse, all under the watchful eyes of the elder ones. Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, and Yog Sothoth keep their many eyes on the multiverse, keeping both order and chaos in the balance. Oh...watch your step, or in this case, center of gravity." Cris noticed that he was floating slightly off the ground, and he giggled. Gravity was none existent in Jackal's room, and the two of them began floating around the room, looking towards the many, many books Jackal's library kept. "Now, where did I leave it...It should be right around...Here." Jackal pulled out a small box, 40 feet from the ground, tucked away behind his many books. Before he could grab it, he heard a small hissing sound coming from behind the box, and he sighed. "Hex...Mana...Now is not the time for games, but If you insist." Jackal proceeded to reach into his pocket, and pull out and toss a handful of sand, then he swiftly moved his hand, and the sand pushed out two king cobras out from behind the box. One king cobra, Mana, had an ankh design on it's hood, while the other, Hex, had a jackal's head design on it's hood. Jackal watched as the two snakes hissed happily while dangling from their tails where Jackal held them. "Pocket sand. Works every time. Now back into the basket with you two." Jackal proceeded to place both snakes into the basket back on the ground. The snakes looked towards their master and hissed and entangled themselves while standing tall and defiant to their master, hoods open and their designs giving off a purple glow. It's things like these that Jackal remembers why he loved finding these two in the first place, they remind him of himself in a way. Jackal went back up to grab both the box and Cris and float back down to the safety of the ground. "Now, this is a very special box containing a very special item. Be very gentle with them." Jackal opened the box to reveal a small notebook and a deck of cards. 

Cris' eyes widen "W-wait. These are-"

"My tarot cards. What the book doesn't tell me, these do. Once per day, I can call upon these cards and ask destiny herself to guide me to the right path to save those in need. But I must be specific with my questions...or rather, YOU need to be specific."

"Wait. M-me?"

Jackal smiled. "I'm giving you my cards. I shall teach you how to use them, and maybe you won't have to rely on your ability so hard." Cris frowned. "Look, I understand whole heartedly. Your ability shows emotion, it puts you into that person's shoes. But whenever you use it you tend to fall into despair. One day you won't be able to handle what you see. These cards may not be able to give you the whole story, but I know that these will at least give you a small handful of hope. Please." Jackal handed the box to Cris, who stared at it's contents. Knowing one's story is much more different than understanding it. But Cris felt like he didn't have a choice in the matter. It wasn't that Jackal was forcing him to have the box, far from it. Cris would've been jumping up and down by now, if it weren't for what was at stake here. What if he misunderstands a situation? What if he misreads the card? Many factors raced through his mind, many fears filling up inside his head. A wrong test is worse than no test at all was something that Jack-o had once said. Cris didn't understand what he meant, until he learned who Jack-o was, and applying it to this situation. Jackal had to teach Cris how to use this ability and fast, otherwise people will get hurt, and Cris wouldn't even know about it. It was better than nothing.

"Please, teach me Jackal."

"My pleasure." Jackal smiled.

/////

Saxton poured some tea into Kokichi's cup. He had speedran through that cup, which is unusual but Saxton had a suspicion that Kokichi was a bit on edge on what to do. He waved a Jammie Dodger in front of Kokichi's face, who stared at the biscuit until Saxton started poking his nose with it, making Kokichi giggle and take the biscuit. "Sorry, it's just...I'm thinking about my fight with Yang...How can you improve something that powerful?"

Saxton looked at Kokichi. "Perhaps it's not the matter of improving the person but rather the method?"

"Maybe...I think she took my advice to heart...Honestly it was something I said in the heat of the moment."

"Punch smarter not harder, or something along those lines. You have such a way with words."

"Aw please, don't overfeed my ego, it's working on a diet."

"But back on topic. I believe there must be a way to improve the way the Grimm are handled. The hunters and huntresses are many, but Grimm are many more."

"You're suggesting a mass removal option?"

"New weapons should get the kids jumping with joy, you saw those kids eyes light up when you showed off Bindlebane." 

Kokichi grinned. "But a design for a brand new weapon...what on earth could we possibly make?"

"Maybe it's not a matter of what new weapon you can make, but rather something you owe?" Saxton stated, handing a piece of paper to Kokichi. He had been working on blueprints for a new and improved ember celica, and Kokichi was pumped. 

"I guess you're right. Shall we begin?"

Saxton smiled, then grabbed a small egg like device with two small tesla coils inside, giving off an electrical power source "Let's make some magic." With a nod and a grin, Kokichi and Saxton got to work on their project, which they ended up dubbing "Project Punchy-girl"

/////

Jack-o had reached his room, which was adorned with toucans, Siamese cats, Shizu dogs, and all kinds of animals of all kinds of shapes and sizes, scattered amongst the walls, with machinery moving left and right with food and drinks to each animal, with a small cherry blossom tree in the middle of the room, water falling from the roof and watering it eternally, while colors of nature and sunlight flooded the room. Jack-o went towards one of the cages labeled 'Wickerbasket', and inside contained a small wall-jumping spider, who looked towards Jack-o and gleefully did a small dance. Jack-o's flame flickered, and he softly patted his pet with one of his twigs, then left for his desk, which was adorned with vials and warning labels that read "WARNING: Possibility of infection. Proceed with caution.", along with a microscope and some petri dishes. Jack-o looked at his desk, then to his animal friends and sighed, going back towards Wickerbasket and wondering what to do. Wickerbasket looked sad, and Jack-o's flame flickered in response. But before he could ponder for another moment longer, he turned around, only to see Jackal sitting besides his tree, reading his book. 

Jackal looked towards Jack-o and closed his book, the sound echoing throughout the room despite the animals that filled it with noise. "For a man of science you sure are terrible at making it happen."

Jack-o turned away and looked back at Wickerbasket "That was the old me. This me wants to be left alone."

"Fear incarnate has a desire to be isolated from everyone? I suppose karma works in such strange ways..."

"You know, It's also called personal space and privacy, and I would like to have some."

Jackal got up and took out some sand from his pocket and tossed it to the ground, then he reached his hand out and the sand rose from the ground and turned into a staff with a cobra's head design at the top. When he grabbed at it, it turned into gold, and the snakes eyes were ones of rubies, and he began using it as a walking stick and began walking towards Jack-o "Look, I completely understand you, your past isn't the prettiest to look at, but you need to move on! You don't want to hurt nor kill anyone, right?" Jackal asked, ending his sentence with a skeptical tone.

Jack-o turned right back around and nodded, his flame no longer flickering and just burned without movement.

"Then I advise you go to them. Study them. Learn of the universe we try so hard to save."

Jack-o was now face to face with Jackal, who had walked all the way from the tree to him, and now stood inches from his candle. "And do you really believe that they would allow me?" Jack-o tapped the green gem in his chest ever so softly, his flame flickering wildly. 

"They know very well what will happen if they cause trouble. You should too, you almost did it to yourself once." And with a serious glare, Jackal turned away from Jack-o and left his room, leaving the scarecrow alone with his animals. 

Jack-o looked back at Wickerbasket and his flame flickered once more as he let out another sigh "Jackal..." He then turned back to his desk and pondered for a moment. He then quickly grabbed Wickerbasket, opened one of the draws in his desk and dug through it to find a small notebook with empty pages on it, and his jumper ring. "Come on Wickerbasket, lets go field researching." And with a small fiddle with his ring and a toss of it as well, Jack-o left with his pet on a quest to understand mortals.


	8. VI - The Lovers, right-side up

Jackal looked towards his young pupil, who was staring at the deck in front of him. It had been two weeks since they had begun training, and Cris was thinking long and hard before something popped into his head. He then placed his hand on the deck of tarot cards and closed his eyes, silence filling the room. After a moment, Cris picked up the deck of cards and began shuffling carefully, flipping cards around until he felt satisfied, then placed the deck down and took a long deep breath before placing the top three cards of the deck face down in front of him. Past...Present...Future. He flipped the first card, which revealed the King of swords upside down. Cris smiled and sighed with relief, as he had expected of his question. He then flipped the second card over to reveal 0 - The Fool upside down, which surprised Cris, but after a while of thinking he understood what the card meant. He finally flipped the last card to reveal VI - The Lovers right side up, and Cris beamed with joy, happy with his results. But before he picked up the cards, he realized something very peculiar. All the cards had shown people without faces, all of them being windows to reflect the soul of the card reader. It wasn't anything major, just that The Fool looked way too similar to a certain huntress in white he'd met before.

/////

_Three weeks ago..._

"What a very interesting request, Ms. Schnee." Saxton stated, drinking some tea before getting up from his seat. He began walking around the room, pondering such a interesting request from the girl who technically had it all.

Weiss was firm with her request. "You're not from this world so i'm sure you have some valuable information that not even the smartest scientists here know about. What's the big problem with showing me such information?"

"Not much, just that I'm impressed that you wish for knowledge as a discount for dust. But I must warn you, the multiverse is not as pretty as you might think, there are dark patches that many would wish to forget about."

Weiss began thinking about her request. These dark patches of the multiverse...There was always danger when it came to knowledge. She took a sip from her tea before making up her mind. "I promise to accept the consequences of whatever appears,"

Saxton nodded "I understand. But you have been warned." Saxton took out a small orb from his pocket and inserted a small pin using a needle hidden away within his purple bowtie. Once he was done, he placed the needle back into his bowtie and placed the ball in the middle of the room, and it hovered in the air before it shot out a huge light show of holograms of multiple universes in a multitude of colors. Weiss couldn't believe what she was seeing, and Saxton looked around until he found what he was looking for. "This is your universe. And this..." Saxton walked all away across the room until he was, what Weiss thought, was way too far from where her universe was. "Is my universe. And these..." Saxton typed some words into the orb's small display, then it shot hundreds of beams to different universes. "Are every other universe where you exist. There are many universes out there, each with it's own story to tell, but they are not timelines. Those are independent to their own universe. For example, I'm changing this universe's timeline by showing you this. And this..." Saxton then walked towards the middle of the room and pointed at one of the bigger universes, which was triple times the size of the others "Is what's known as the parent universe. All these universes..." Saxton pointed towards the smaller universes "Are known as miniverses, and are connected to the parent universe. Each universe is created by a God much bigger than your two gods, but they rarely have conflict with one another, as they are all deities of creation, thus the name creation Gods, who are under the watchful eye of that one..." Saxton stated, pointing at a faraway structure that looked to be a castle with ten towers connected by bridges, all with a white glow, almost like a cloud "This is known as the high council, made with four higher Gods known as the Elder ones, who make sure the universe is in balance. They are basically quality control for each and every universe. The creation God creates a story, and the Elder ones make sure that the destiny provided is good as well, and in return for allowing a universe to exist they provide protection of that universe's ultimate destiny, protecting it from any who dare try to change it. Luckily, your destiny is to overcome this issue of Grimm, and thus we're technically not breaking any rules, we have a certain friend of ours to thank for that. Any questions?"

Weiss stood stunned at the beauty of it all, but grew confused when she gathered her thoughts. "That was a lot to take in...So what other stories are there then?"

Saxton thought, frowning at every story he had witnessed before learning of this one. "Well, there's one of a wizardry school filled with magic and adventure. Jackal always said he was team Myth and Balance all the way, whatever that means. There's one where people settle disputes with children's card games. I even have my own deck when I visited that one. Heck, there's even one where it's simply a nice day in a garden, being maliciously bombarded by a horrible goose." Weiss was intrigued but also even more confused that there were this many worlds not even Remnant was aware of. Saxton then stopped in his tracks when he came across one special universe. "Oh...That one..."

Weiss was interested. "What's so special about that one?"

Saxton swallowed hard, this was going to hurt. "This isn't the first time we have met Ruby Rose...Kokichi and I met her here first."

Now Weiss was excited. "So this is a different story from what's happening here? What happened?"

"She attended a workout routine, requested by one of her friends, and she..." Saxton went quiet, clutching his stomach and holding his hand to his mouth, feeling queasy at the thought. Weiss was confused. Confused and scared.

"She...what?"

"She was mind broken. She was so long gone by the men who used her that they convinced her to bring her sister and they broke her too. We couldn't save her."

Weiss lost all emotion. "Y-you couldn't save her? Why? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER?!" Weiss grabbed Saxton by the collar in a fit of rage and disgust. They talk about how they're powerful universe jumping freaks and they can't save a precious teenager from being...Why?

Saxton had no emotion on his face and simply stared at Weiss. "Universal regulations. We call those universes NTR, Netorare. They're special cases made by their gods, lessons meant to teach those who find them. Due to that, we cannot intervene, but there are stories of universes with a different ending, which don't break the timeline rule."

Weiss was now livid. "LESSONS?! WHAT LESSONS DO YOU LEARN FROM THAT?!"

"To not take what you love for granted. To have common sense and don't feel forced to do what you feel is unsafe. Incitement can get you into that situation, don't let it control you. Have a good soul and understand those you hurt."

Weiss fell to her knees, drowned in tears. "W-who...what sick, pathetic person did that to her? Why would they do that to her?! Why did she listen to them?! WHO GAVE HER SUCH AN IDEA?!"

Saxton went to turn off the ball that hovered still in the middle of the room, and once he did, he looked towards Weiss and frowned. Weiss could see that his posture was a bit off, not as tight and sturdy as she remembered, probably due to the memories. Saxton walked towards her, and lifted her up by the hand, and lead her to her chair before sitting down and grabbing his tea cup. "You were the one. It was your idea. You're the sick, pathetic person who convinced Ruby to get hurt like that." Weiss fell in her seat, unknowing what to feel anymore, and Saxton poured his tea back into the tea pot, and placing everything back inside the big box Kokichi carried around with him. "Now...Shall we discuss business?"

/////

_One Month Later..._

The air was crisp, the wind was warm, and the sun shone bright. It was a perfect day for a stroll, and Ruby decided that today she'd have it with her bestest, friendliest friend that had ever friended in the friendly world, Weiss. They walked together until they found a nice spot in the town park and Ruby laid a blanket down and sat with Weiss. Ruby then revealed a small basket she held and opened it, pouring out all the delicious food items that she had made for their picnic together. Cookies, sandwiches, a couple of juice boxes, some bags of gummies, and a box of brownies she bought from the store on their way over to the park. Weiss was genuinely surprised to see how much food Ruby actually stuffed inside the small basket, and Ruby smiled, setting everything down and began eating away at one of the cookies. 

"So Weiss! Nice spot huh?" Ruby asked.

Weiss nodded, taking in the sweet smell of nature, and for once not the smell of Grimm or forests or sweat. "It's wonderful Ruby."

Ruby looked at Weiss, who went for a juice box and simply looked back at the world around herself. Ruby also went for a juice box, stabbing it with it's straw and drank quietly, watching Weiss simply hold onto her box tight, and slowly but steadily curling up into a neat little ball. "Weiss? Is everything alright?"

Weiss didn't even flinch at the question, and simply continued curling up, unable to speak her mind. 

Ruby scooted over to Weiss, looking at her worryingly. She had went with Ruby to anything she invited her too and smiled on occasion, but she had been extremely silent when she was around Ruby, and over the course of a month, Ruby thought now was the only chance she would get to crack open Weiss and figure out what was going on. Weiss noticed this and hid her face in her Weiss ball form. "Weiss...If there's something wrong, you can tell me. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Weiss looked towards Ruby. Ruby smiled, but that made it even harder for Weiss. "Ruby, thank you for taking me out on this picnic. It's such a wonderful spot with wonderful scenery, and the food that you brought...some of it being quite unhealthy, is still very lovely."

Ruby was very happy, but still very concerned for her friend. "So then what's the problem? Everything is perfect!"

"Ruby..." Weiss got up in a flash and held onto Ruby tight, their eyes linking with each other. Weiss had to know, it had been eating at her ever since she left Beacon to hang out with Ruby. The question had to be asked. "Do you...Do you think that I'm a...terrible person? A person who would hurt someone like you?" Weiss trembled, tears beginning to form, Ruby shocked at such a question. 

"A terrible person?! Weiss, what gave you such an idea?!"

Weiss looked around. They were alone. "You cannot tell another soul other than people we can trust, got it?" Ruby nodded. "That kid...The one with the purple bowtie...He showed me something incredible. He showed me the multiverse, multiple realities, where worlds are created and destroyed at a whim and..." Weiss noticed Ruby was confused beyond belief. Right, she was talking to Ruby, she wouldn't understand this even if Weiss happened to show a PowerPoint on the subject, It was too complex. She had to simplify it. "Uhhh…He showed me more places I haven't been in. And one of those places had you in it, and it had me too, well not me me, but like a different me and I...I hurt you...badly..." Weiss' tears finally broke, just explaining what had happened was too much for her to bear.

Ruby, although still confused, placed two and two together and hugged Weiss tightly. "It's ok...That you wasn't you, but you're you, and that you can never be as kind and generous and caring as the you you is, you've never done the bad things the other you did, because you're you, and the you that you know that you is you and uhh…" Ruby was now even more confused at what she was saying than what she already knew.

"WHAT?" Was all Weiss could form. And after breaking the hug, the two girls laughed at their situation, until Weiss attempted to place into words what Ruby meant. "You mean that the other me did bad things, but i'm not bad myself?"

"You're such a wonderful person! Don't let some other you define who you are! You're way too awesome of a person to ever do something that cruel! That's why I love you so much Weiss! You're caring, beautiful, a great team member, not a very good cook because you probably never took cooking lessons due to all your butlers and such but whatever, you're so-"

"Ruby slow down for a moment. Did you say "That's why I love you?" and "You're beautiful"?" Ruby thought for a moment, then realized in the next moment, then her face went from happy and reassuring, to red and into Ruby ball form in the final moment. "WAIT WAS THAT WHAT I THINK IT WAS?!"

Ruby mumbled in her new found ball form. "That was meant for later..."

"YOU WANTED TO CONFESS TO ME LATER?! WAIT WAS ALL THIS JUST FOR YOU TO CONFESS?!?!" 

"...Yeah?"

Weiss' face went as red as Ruby's cape, and now both girls were in their ball forms, next to each other, red as apples, while some ants found their way to their cookies, and some bee's buzzing around Ruby's juice box. 

"W-well...That's one way to do it I guess..." Weiss lifted her face and realized the ants attacking Ruby's cookie stash and quickly moved the cookies away from them, and leaving some crumbs for the ants, which happily took them back to their home. She left the bees alone, and grabbed her juice box and handed it to Ruby. "Do you wanna try again?"

Ruby looked up to see Weiss waving a juice box in front of her. Ruby smiled a bit, took the juice box, and took a deep breath. "Can I skip to the confession part?"

Weiss blushed. "S-sure...Sure you can."

Ruby, after taking a moment to mentally prepare, looked at Weiss in her eyes. She saw the innocent, scared girl who saw something awful, but she also saw the kind, gentle, sometimes strict friend she fell for, and today was the day she got it off her chest. "Weiss, for a few months now we've been working together as huntresses, teaming up and stopping evil and stuff and having a blast. You've always been my bestest friend ever and...You're just such an amazing person. You're strict, but you're also gentle. You're demanding, yet you're also sweet and kind. You're such a great person, and an even better friend...But I was curious if you wanted to take it one step farther, to be more than friends...So...Weiss Schnee...Will you be....Will you be the white to my rose?"

Weiss burst into a laughing fit, making Ruby blush hard. "Will you be the white to my rose?! Did you seriously have to be that corny?!"

"Well...Well I don't see you doing it any better!"

"How long did you rehearse that anyways?"

"...I uhh...I improvised on the spot honestly." And that made Weiss laugh even harder. 

"Ok, ok. Ruby, let me show you how to actually do it ok?" Weiss finally caught her breath, and Ruby nodded. "It's really simple...watch..." Weiss took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself. Ruby was worried, maybe this wasn't going to be as simple as Weiss made it out to be, whatever it was. "Ok, here we go..." Weiss cleared her throat. "Ruby Rose..." Weiss held onto Ruby, then pulled her close to plant a kiss on her lips. Ruby was stunned, but after a little bit returned the kiss. It felt like hours, but was only for mere moments. It felt like they were floating in space, but they were still on the ground. It felt like fireworks, but it was so much more than that. They both pulled away, both catching their breath, and Weiss being a little disoriented, soon remembered what she was doing and once again cleared her throat. "W-will you be my official girlfriend? Understand Ruby? Short, sweet, and to the point." 

Ruby eyes widen, and she went and grabbed a sandwich and handed it to Weiss, and she grabbed one for herself. "Best. Picnic. EVER! I say we go bowling next time!"

Weiss looked red as before. "WAIT YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE MY QUESTION HANGING?!"

Ruby giggled. "Well yeah duh, but you still wanna go bowling?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN "YEAH DUH"?!?!" 

Ruby laughed hard, and scooted as close to Weiss as possible, enjoying the sunset, sandwiches, and the warm embrace of the ones they love.


	9. VI - The Lovers, upside down

It had been over a month since they started training, and Cris felt as if he was getting the hang of the tarot cards, as well as understanding how destiny tends to give her messages. Cris once again sat in silence, looking for a question that would be wise to ask, and once he got his question, he took the cards and began shuffling, excited to learn what destiny had in store for him. Like yesterday, and the day before, and the month of training he had, he took the top three cards of the deck and sprawled them across the table. Past...Present...Future. Cris took a moment to admire the cards and calm himself before he excitedly revealed the first card. The 8 of cups, right-side up. Cris looked at the card and frowned, sympathizing with the tragic past the card had shown. He then revealed the second card, which so happened to be the ace of cups, right-side up. Cris' excitement bursts out of him as he is glad to see the present is doing well. He happily reveals the final card. VI - The Lovers...upside down?! This was bad, considering the question, anything could possibly happen. But Cris needed to calm down and rethink the card, that was something Jackal had taught him, don't take things at face value. Understand the card, don't judge a book by it's cover. Cris thought for a moment, then looked through the notebook that was inside the box that came with the cards. He read some of Jackal's notes that he left in the book and after finding what he needed to know, Cris fell into his seat...and laughed. He was laughing with relief. When he was finally done overcoming that anxiety moment, he picked up the cards, but not before noticing a bumblebee on the shoulder of one of the lovers.

/////

_One Month Later..._

Yang was pacing across the kitchen, franticly thinking on what to do. Ruby simply watched as Yang was worried on how to pull off this plan of her's. This wasn't going to be easy. "Why don't you just do what I did with Weiss?" Ruby asked. 

Yang shook her head "I want it to be special! You got the picnic so I get the fancy dinner. BUT WHAT DO I COOK?!" 

"You can order take out."

Yang looked at her sister with disappointment. "Ruby...do me a huge favor ok?"

"Oki-Doki."

Yang sighed "Please do order some take out in case I either can't think of anything to cook, I burn the place down, or I collapse due to the pressure of this whole thing. K?"

"K." And off Ruby went, to fetch take out for both Yang and Blake's fancy dinner.

"Shoot! I should've told her what take out I wanted. Aaaand of course she left her scroll here....great." Yang continued to pace around the kitchen. She had wanted to plan this for a while, but she had told Blake that today they were going to do something special, and she also had a special surprise for her as well. She had luckily bought Blake in advance a book which contained a ton of chapters, so that should've kept her busy, but for how long Yang could never guess. Yang had slightly taken up reading with Blake, enjoying the quiet moments with Blake, although she would've preferred the action of the outside world rather than be super antsy with the action described by words on a page. But Blake was always calm and enjoyed the company of Yang, but Yang never payed attention to how fast Blake read. She doesn't know if Blake is a fast or slow reader, so this was a luck of the draw. Constant bird watching moments and constant reading times were had between them, but every time Yang felt like it wasn't special enough to get her message across, and this was her lucky break. The dinner had to be special, and Yang needed to think of one fast, Blake could finish that book at anytime, and the longer Yang spent pacing around the kitchen, the sooner Blake would be here. Yang was pacing faster and faster, unsure on what to do. What to cook? What on Remnant to cook?! WHAT TO COO-

"Fish and ramen. Shouldn't be that hard to make." Yang stopped in her steps and turned to see a certain scarf-boy sitting in her living room, sipping away at some tea. 

"And hello to you too."

"I hope you are well, although you don't seem to be doing all that grand, but to you I provide a solution: fish and ramen."

"Is that something Blake would enjoy?"

"She's a faunus, a cat one to be precise. Fish is in her nature and well...every one likes ramen. I think." 

"Wait, how do you know that-...Oh wait."

"Universal jumper, I know her past like I know the flavor of this tea, and trust me I'm the one who brewed the bloody thing."

Yang went to Kokichi and sat across from him. "So..."

Before Yang could continue, she suddenly froze. Right on the table in front of her laid a pair of gauntlets that looked just like ember celica, but with some obvious tweaks, like some sort of third barrel on the top, and a dust crystal on both of the gauntlests that was incased inside a small tube with tesla coils shooting electricity inside of it, and a special mark on it that read 'K.K' "State of the art weapons for you. Meet the new and improved ember celica v2.0, now powered by energy blasts like yours truly, packed with a sniper function for long ranged attacks, dust powered bullets made just for those nasty grim, and a wonderful instructions notebook made by, you guessed it, me." Kokichi handed the instructions to Yang, who was all kinds of excited, but she had something more important on her mind.

"This is awesome, thanks! But where am I going to get ramen and fish?"

"Saxton has already informed Ruby of the food items and should be arriving in three...two…one.."

Suddenly, Ruby burst through the door with two bags worth of food. "I have arrived!"

Yang was shocked "That was fast! Where did you even go?"

"To purple bowtie man! He gave me this food and told me to tell you to have fun and quote "Slay her heart girl like you slayed Kokichi." end quote. Well actually he magically popped in front of me and I just took the bags with glee and ran here. Hello scarf-boy!"

"Greetings Ruby. Bloody hell that's never going to leave me is it?"

Yang giggled, then placed the bags down and opened them to reveal two boxes of ramen, two boxes labled "Cooked fish" and a note that reads "From one bisexual couple to a lesbian love story coming to fruition. The ramen is pipping hot, so carefully remove it and open the lid and let it cool. The fish is already cut and cooked, just add to the ramen. Enjoy! -Saxton M. , Kokichi K.". Yang was stunned. "Kokichi...I don't know what to say!"

Kokichi laid back on the seat and grinned "Consider it a consolation prize for that tie we had. Care for anything else? I can give you some details about the multiverse, forget about the deal we made, but I assume Weiss had informed you about the wonders of the multiverse. There's a lot that happens in your universe it's hard to monitor everything."

"Yes, she did. But I really want to win that bet, so it's still on, but...What about you?"

Kokichi placed his tea cup down "Me? What about me?"

"Like, your past. You were awesome in our fight, so what made you that awesome?"

Kokichi grinned "Same thing that made you awesome. Constant training and research on the opponent. Although I should be back at my lab working on some dust solution."

"Everyone needs a break sometimes. You just got done working on ember celica, didn't you? So take this moment to unwind, chill out, relax. I mean, look at me. I should be out fighting Grimm or studying but nope."

"Setting up a wonderous dinner for the one you love, how nice. Almost reminds me of the time I came out to Saxton."

Yang was intrigued. Oh this aughtta be good. "And how did that go?"

Kokichi blushed a bit "Well...we were just done with another glorious day of universe jumping, and we went to the lab to work on some projects...I looked at him and I thought "Aight this should be easy" and I went to him, and the words never left my mouth. Saxton looked at me as I stared blankly at him, I looked away and he thought I was having a fever or something. So he asks if I'm alright in the head and I say, "Yeah i'm fine, it's just that...well uhh it's that...I'm sorry I f**ked this up didn't I?". And Saxton looked at me and went "Messed up what?" and I said "Well I feel like I messed up in our friendship somehow by saying this but it's because I...Because I...Oh f**k it I LOVE YOU SAXTON MANCHESTER THERE I F**KING SAID IT!". And the look on his face. HA! It was bloody priceless, I don't even need a picture of it. I can remember it like it was yesterday, the precious shocked face he had! He looked at me and poured some tea and served me a cup, you know, while I'm shaking in fear of rejection, and Saxton looks at me and says. "Well...it's always nice to drink with partners...especially those you love." That lab. It's the place where I confessed, had my first kiss, and became a happy man. You might have somewhat of the same experience too."

Yang looked down "It has to be perfect though! This is the first time I'm ever doing this though!"

"And no one is expecting you to get it right! You're getting take out for Christ's sake!"

Yang looked confused "Christ's sake?"

"Oh, right your universe doesn't have him. He's a very important figure in my universe, it's a long story. But anyways, look at me and my story. You think I planned that out at all?! Hell no! But it ended the way I hope it did, with love. Just be yourself, the person that Blake fell for."

Yang smiled, then had a sudden realization. "Wait. Blake loves me too?!"

"Ever since two months ago I think. She was in denial but you might beat her to the punch." Kokichi's pocket began to ring, and he pulled it out to reveal his communicator, and he smiled when he saw the message on it. "Well it's been fun hanging out with you 2, but I really must be going. Saxton has cordially invited me to hang out with him and watch some shows with him as a break. I guess he heard your advice." Kokichi then fiddled with his jumper ring and then tossed it, and it opened another gateway and he began to leave through it. "Good luck Yang! Remember, be yourself!" 

Yang smiled. "You got it." With a final wave of farewell, Kokichi left through the gateway, and soon it disappeared, leaving Yang and Ruby alone, until a well timed Blake entered the room. 

Ruby giggled "And that's my cue to leave! Have fun you two!" Ruby left, leaving now Yang and Blake alone, both staring at the delicious ramen and Blake looking suspiciously at the two other black boxes. 

"So...Ramen and...?"

Yang gave a smile, a nervous smile because she would kill Kokichi if Blake was offended. "...Fish?"

Blake's face went blank, and she rushed over to the table and ripped the top off one of the black boxes to reveal chopped fish, which made Blake's eyes glow and mouth water, and Yang laugh. 

"I knew you would like it!" Yang was super glad that Ruby had taken the note Saxton left with her, otherwise this would've been really hard to explain, but so far so good. 

Blake sat down with Yang, both eating away at their ramen and Blake devouring the fish. Yang knew she had to tell Blake sometime, it was the surprise she had. "Hey Blake, I have a surprise for you."

Blake swallowed her food and looked up. "Oh yeah...ummm...I also have a surprise for you as well..."

Yang was now scared. What could possibly be Blake's surprise?

"Mind if we show it on three?"

"Umm...Sure."

"One" Yang mentally prepared, this was going to be a win or lose situation.

"Two" Blake continued, She had waited two months now to finally get this off her chest, and now was the best time to do so.

"Three" Here goes nothing

"I LOVE YOU WILL YOU BE MY GF?" Yang and Blake said at the same time. And that's when they realized what the other had said, and both girls had no clue how to respond.

Yang stood staring, Blake stood embarrassed. Yang sat down in her seat and continued eating her ramen after sighing with relief. "Wow, that was way easier than I thought..."

Blake still stood staring at Yang, unsure on what to do. "W-wait. That's it?! No kissing, No rejection, no nothing?"

"Did you want something to happen?"

"N-no...I actually didn't. I wasn't prepared for how you might react and the only thing I had for reference for this was my stories and books. I simply followed those examples."

Yang looked at Blake, who was quivering while she stood. "I understand that part, but you didn't want any...Kissing? No hugging? Any of that? You actually wanted to just say it and be over with? I'm not mad at it, just curious."

Blake nodded slightly "I'm not ready for that kind of intimacy, I like our reading times, where we're just together and a little close, but.." Blake started to tear up, and Yang was quick to respond. 

"It's ok Blake. I understand if you don't want to do something as small as a hug, the only thing I care about Is that you love me! I had these feelings for a month now and I was scared I was going to have to make it as perfect as your stories!"

Blake looked up shocked "You were actually going to go that far? For me? Yang I shouldn't have placed such a high bar for you, I shouldn't have-"

Yang quickly placed a finger on Blake's lips, silencing her. It was risky, she wasn't actually sure where Blake's boundaries were, but Blake was silenced. "It's ok. Your books are incredible to read, as incredible as you almost! You shouldn't feel down in the dumps just because I almost pushed myself too far. How about we sit down and continue enjoying our...Date?"

Blake blushed, and smiled awkwardly. "Yeah...Our date...That sounds nice."

Yang was beaming with joy, and sat down and continued enjoying their ramen date, while Ruby and Weiss watched from a corner, and Saxton and Kokichi watched from their universe. Cris watched along with them, and smiled. Once again, destiny had been proven right once more. Blake had once again become a much better person, coming out of her shell, and Yang was happier than ever to be with the one she loved. 


	10. XXI - The World, right-side up

Past... Present...

Future... Shuffle... Deal... Reveal...

Past... 5 of swords... Right-side up... Present...

Ace...of swords... Right-side up...

Future... XXI - The World...

Right-side up... Cold... So cold... Cold...

Cold... Cold.... Cold... Cold....

Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold...

Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold... Cold...

Cold.... Cold...

Cold... Cold...

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ruby and Weiss...He had overheard their team-up name being White Rose...Blake and Yang...He overheard them being called bumblebee...And he had studied these people for weeks. But nothing. He had came to zero conclusion, no matter how hard he had forced himself to think, he couldn't come to a single, logical conclusion. Nothing seemed to work, nothing seemed to be helpful to these people. It always was harmful, chaotic, it was...him. He was just coming to his old conclusions on how to solve a problem. He hated the feeling, the idea that he would ever make something like that ever again. But this was his third week into his investigation of these people, and he still had hope that he will learn something, or better yet, understand something that will bring him a better answer than...that. He picked up Wickerbasket and threw his jumper ring, and off to the forests of Vale he went. He hid behind some trees and studied the students that went passing by every single day in beacon, and he would jot down notes of everything that he learned of them. That one girl in the pink sweater is best friends with a girl named Elizabeth. That one boy in a long jacket doesn't like the idea of hunting for sport. That girl has a crush on that boy. That boy has feelings for some other boy he met two weeks ago. All nice info, but Jack-o was now irritated. So much so he ripped the page he jotted down into many tiny pieces out of frustration and walked into the forest to get his thoughts together. Nothing was helpful in the slightest. Or maybe it was the fact that he wasn't helpful in the slightest. His flame grew bigger, his anger present in his voice, and his patience thin. If it weren't for the fact that it was a Grimm infested forest, he would've began chopping down tree after tree with his weapon by now. But he couldn't. He had no reason to. He didn't have the strength, nor the want to do it. He continued walking down through the forest, trees giving shade to the lost scarecrow, and sunlight fading from existence. The ground became a mess of dirt, footprints of past hunters and huntresses attempts of saving their fellow man, and a slight bone rattling sound. 

Right behind him came a single Death Stalker. He expected such an early appearance, for he discovered that Grimm were attracted to negative thoughts and feelings, so a being of pure fear was like a Grimm magnet. But to his amaze, one Death Stalker had turned into two, then three, then five, then eight, then 13, and so on until he was staring down a whole swarm of the things. Each one getting into position to swarm the thing they found, and Jack-o was staring at them, wondering what his fate would be. Will he kill all the death stalkers? His weapon was powered by dust now, thanks to Kokichi's efforts, so he would have no problem. But he was hoping for the latter. His demise. His ruin. He had hoped for something awful to happen to him, at least the gang would think it was just some form of accident and nothing serious. He had hoped for something that would make him understand, allow him to see the horrible things that he had done to both innocents and to his closest friends. He had wished for death, which would've been easy to pull off as some sort of accident, he could just take the gemstone that gave him life out and he would be gone for good. But something deep down told him not to do that, something told him to watch his fate unfurl before him, and he did. The Death Stalkers circled around Jack-o, and Jack-o spun in place, staring down each and every Stalker around him. Something about them was...mesmerizing. The way they moved around him, so precise and orderly. The way he spun in place, so perfect and unnatural. Round and round the Stalkers moved, and round and round did Jack-o spin. The candle giving a green glow, and the Grimm now quickening their pace, and Jack-o spun to match their tempo. It felt endless, the spinning, the candle, the Grimm, the sorrow. One Death Stalker broke out of the circle and began walking towards Jack-o. This was his chance, his chance to end it all, to end both his suffering and the suffering of others. But he had dropped his weapon, his form broken and bent out of shape as his eyes glowed with a green flickering flame as its light, and he continued spinning, but keeping eye contact with the creature in front of him. It's nonexistent, pure white eyes staring down Jack-o, as his nonexistent, hollow, green eyes stared back, each one trying to figure out the other, while tens of Death Stalkers judged silently as the circle began to shrink. Slowly...steadily...ever so small the circle became, and ever so slower the circle spun, and ever so slowly did the lone Death Stalker and Jack-o spin, until they had halted. Silence had filled the forest. The Death Stalkers looked at Jack-o, and Jack-o's flame grew brighter, and grew in intensity. He leaned down and placed his twig for a hand onto the lone Death Stalker, who placed both of it's claws on Jack-o's hand in response. No grabbing. No swarming. No death. Only one creature understanding the other. Fear understanding fear. Jack-o knew that it could stab him with it's stinger, but he believed both knew it was a waste, for you cannot kill what isn't alive. But he could kill this thing, he could give it his gem, his heart, die, and never exist again. But he didn't. He simply held onto the Death Stalker. The Death Stalker held onto him. The other Death Stalkers stared on, Jack-o leaned in ever so closer, his flame burning inches from the Stalker's face. The Death stalker slowly released it's soft grip on Jack-o, and tuned and skittered away. The remaining Death Stalkers followed close behind, their stingers swaying from side to side, leaving Jack-o alone. Jack-o's mind went blank. 

He had failed to end himself. He had failed to spare those around him their suffering. But somehow he learned one thing. He found a new creature to study, but the most valuable thing he found was a new perspective on the problem. He went in the opposite direction of the Death Stalkers and reached the edge of the forests and he quickly hid behind one of the trees. He found a group of four teens walking down the pathway, happily laughing to themselves. It was team RWBY, and the happiest of them all was Ruby herself, holding onto and swinging Weiss' hand like a child. Blake and Yang were close, but it seemed that they were still working on the whole physical contact thing. But Jack-o's mind thought of something. Something...disturbing. It wasn't like the other conclusions he had come across. This one was just strange, morally grey, but yet it had a feeling of empathy to it. The plan he thought of, the conclusion, it was all wrong, it gave him a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time. It had the same undertone, but for all the wrong reasons. It was like a lightbulb, but it electrocuted him whenever he tried to touch it. He gave one look towards the team...Ruby Rose...Such innocence...Yet a weapon of pure violence, a being made to eradicate Grimm...The thought burned into his mind, his candle wavering at the idea. But it wasn't just an idea, it was a truth, a truth that only applied to him. The Grimm may be hard to understand...But the humans...He knew what to do, but he knew nobody would help him. Not a single soul would even be crazy enough to-

Yes...Them. He's been through thick and thin with them. Especially Cris. At first, he was the worst of Cris’ fears, and Jack-o enjoyed every moment of it. But ever since that day, the day where Cris snapped and decimated his gemstone, the day where he did everything in his power to find another one, just to bring him back to life, someone as awful as him. That day, he learned to respect his new-found friends. The crimes he had committed, the atrocities he had caused, he had only learned to define himself by them. Today, it was time to test the trust he had gained with his friends, time to test the one fear he always had inside himself. He quickly used the jumper ring to get back to his room, where his animal friends quacked and roared and chirped at his arrival. Today, he would test something awful. The Grimm won't be infected, but someone like Ruby...Weiss...Yang...Blake...It was possibly the worst thing he could have done. But deep down he knew it was the only thing he could do. It had taken him a long time to get this to work, a whole month spent on his worst idea ever. He could hear the commotion outside, of Kokichi and Saxton asking for ideas and solutions to the Grimm problem. It's now or never, if none of them had a solution, then she shall be the one to push his. His animals went silent, and Wickerbasket looked towards him and gave him a happy little dance. His time had come. He stepped out of his room, looking towards Kokichi, and the room went silent. The air went cold...cold...so cold...

Cold...Cold...

Kokichi was lost...

So cold...So cold... 

Jack-o found a solution...right in the palm of his hand...

Cold...Cold...


	11. Results

Cold. The lab had never felt so cold before. But Kokichi found every reason plausible as to why it felt so cold. It could be that in the span of three months, three whole months, that Kokichi and Saxton never found an answer to the Grimm problem, and everyone was getting worried. But the reason, the true reason why it was so cold, was because Jack-o had finished. Well, almost finished. He had the idea, but lacked the final piece of the puzzle. The animals in his room went silent. Jack-o's flickering flame had now become a light of uncertainty, sending shivers down everyone's spine, and sending a shiver through his soul. Jack-o was just as afraid as everyone else in the room, and that didn't help Kokichi's worrying state at all. Jack-o revealed a small gas tank, the size of an index finger. He had his special brew, the one thing he never wanted to make again, yet he stood there, holding the finished product between his twigs. 

Jack-o looked towards Kokichi, who could only give a blank stare at the scarecrow, and the scarecrow could only give the inventor the same blank stare. Soon, he finally spoke "Look, I know this looks to be a very awful idea, but I think I have a solution. This could be the answer, this could be our ticket to fixing this Grimm problem!" 

Kokichi cringed. He really didn't want to go with such an extreme plan here, but Jack-o insisted. They still had a grand total of a year and nine months, and he didn't have to let Jack-o run loose with...that. But he seemed genuine about what he was presenting, but logic would beg to object. "Jack-o, what went through your head to think that this would be a good idea?".

Jack-o looked at his surroundings, noticing everyone giving him a concerned stare down. But he couldn't back down now, this was his chance for redemption. "I went and studied those hunters and huntresses, I saw the power of the Grimm. You said it yourself, what if it's not the problem we have to fix, but rather the method to fix it."

"And so your method is to infect all the Grimm? What if a human gets infected?"

Jack-o's flame died down a bit "The Grimm aren't the targets for this. The humans are."

Kokichi was shocked "EXCUSE ME?!" 

"L-look! We haven't figured out any solutions to this problem and I might've found our golden ticket!"

"And how the bloody hell is infecting the humans going to help us?!"

Jack-o's candle now only held a small, barely visible flame. Silence overtook the room as Jack-o pondered how to word his next sentence "In my life, I made something similar. The people that got infected...they became some sort of creature...Tentacles, teeth, sharp claws, but also strength, speed, endurance, they were unkillable machines, which unfortunately killed themselves due to their loss of sanity, but-"

"And how is a loss of sanity beneficial?"

"I perfected it!"

"Perfection is a myth Jack-o, everyone knows that."

"BUT THE ELDRITCH ELVOLUTION ISN'T!!!" Jack-o exclaimed, his flame burning bright, sending flames through his mouth before dying off again. 

Kokichi was stunned "You...You made a..."

"All I need is some dust, and one of those eternal vials."

"The eternal vials, the ones that we went through literal hell to fetch for ourselves? The ones in limited supply that we only have two of? Those eternal vials?" Saxton quickly informed Jack-o.

Jack-o's flame once again died off. It was true, through their many adventures, there were some they wish they would never go through again. But pain equals reward, and they were gifted from the elder ones two vials known as the eternal vials, capable of healing any wound and curing any disease. It would be extremely beneficial to Jack-o's cause. If anything were to go wrong, he could give his patient the eternal vial and they would be cured in minutes. But he only had two, and Saxton was very protective of them. Jack-o looked towards Saxton weakly "Yes?"

"You mean this one right here?" Said a lone, dry Egyptian voice. Saxton and Jack-o turned, and Jackal was seen holding one of the vials in the palm of his hand. "I thought I might pick it up for you, I have high confidence for your little science fair project on these mortals."

Kokichi was quick to object "Now wait a minute. First of all we only have two of those, no way in hell am I trusting someone like you with even one of those. You may have a change of heart but you are still on thin f**king Ice Jack-o, and second, what are you planning to do with the dust anyways?"

Jack-o looked towards the small tank he held "I plan to infuse the power of the dust crystals with my pathogen, thus creating more powerful eldritch beings. They would literally evolve into Grimm killing machines!"

Kokichi was even more afraid. Saxton patted him on the shoulder reassuringly "Now now, I personally think it would be fine if we let Jack-o test this theory of his, wouldn't it?

"But it's a bloody pathogen!"

"Yes, but I think it would be wise to cut Jack-o some slack and let him try this idea out. I will give you only one chance though Jack-o. One vial, one chance, any person of your choosing, but after that it's a no go from me. 

Jack-o was thankful, but Kokichi was still skeptical about it. His mind tried every idea possible to counter this radical take on the problem, but with Saxton's and Jackal's support, he had come to the most logical solution he could think of at the moment. "Social distancing, no contact with whoever you choose, quarantine them immediately, understood?"

Jack-o nodded. He knew that already, but he also knew how stubborn Kokichi could be at times when given sarcasm in a serious moment. "I promise you, Ruby will be perfectly-"

"WAIT WHO?!" Kokichi shouted. In a flash, Jackal called out to Jack-o and tossed the eternal vial at him, and Joy quickly pulled out his jumper ring and tossed it, opening the gateway to Beacon. Jack-o caught the vial and ran into the gateway, along with his treasure hunting crew, and before Kokichi could respond, the gateway closed in front of him. 

Isic and Jack couldn't help but giggle at the events of the ever angry Kokichi. "Don't worry Kokichi! I'm sure that Jack-o will guide Ruby and her friends in the right PATH-ogen!" Before another word was spoken, Isic was thwacked on the head by Kokichi's Bindlebane, sending the robot to the ground, rebooting in a daze. 

"I am so going to regret letting them leave."

Saxton held onto Kokichi's hand "I'm sure they'll be fine." And with a smile, they both left for their lab, leaving Jackal to head to his room and to look at the table he had placed for him and Cris to practice tarot reading, and he smiled.

".جيد" He looked at the tarot cards in front of him, and before him laid the past, which was covered in sand, the present, which showed VII-The Chariot, right-side up, and finally the future, which showed the king of swords, right-side up. 

/////

The school had been bustling with the sounds of training, and team JNPR and team RWBY were right smack in the middle of it. Apparently training against each other is not such a bad idea after all, and if Weiss is to be honest, Jaune had improved exponentially! His fighting style with his sword had improved far beyond than when he first arrived at Beacon, and Jaune could say the same for the Schnee as well, with her form more upright and her speed and strength ever more improved. The fight was intense, just the way Yang would've liked it, but she was having her own fun training against Nora, While Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren all watched safely afar under the shade of the many trees the forest had to offer. To Ruby, this was incredible, as their strength had increased over the last few months to points even she once thought impossible. To be honest, deep down she was hoping that those universe jumpers come back so she could show them her new potential, her excitement bubbling up inside of her like a sparkling soda ready to burst. 

"Is everything alright Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, noticing her jumpy nature.

Ruby turned to see Pyrrha, and then noticed how she felt very energetic. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just really pumped because of all our training, that's all. Sorry for making you worry Pyrrha, heheh." 

"Our training has surprisingly given us much better results than I had previously expected. Maybe this fight for the world isn't as bad as it may have first been seen as." Ren said while watching Nora have probably waaaaay too much fun battling Yang, while he could say the same for Yang. 

"Who knew doing the thing that's known to make you stronger actually makes you stronger..." Blake stated, reading a book hand picked by Yang, which Blake reluctantly appreciated, but read it anyways so it wouldn't go completely to waste, much to Blake's dismay. It wasn't that it was a horrible read, it was just bland in it's story telling, and according to the synopsis of the book it was an interactive story that contained multiple endings, two to be exact, which comprised of either you beat the ninjas, or you don't beat the ninjas. A simple, energy draining read for Blake, who had almost fallen asleep reading it if it weren't for the loud commotion of the training happening in front of her. But even so, she kept edging on the tipping point of dozing off. 

"Well, how about once they're done, we train Blake? To get that energy up?" Asked Ruby, already up and stretching. 

Blake looked at Ruby, then she looked at the book. "Yes." Blake stated. 

"Excellent! Then I suppose you and Ren will be sparring?"

"I guess so." Answered Pyrrha.

"I wish you the best of luck in sparring with me." Ren stated, already beginning some pre-combat stretches.

Once Yang, Nora, Weiss, and Jaune were finished, it was time for Ruby, Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha to spar. Ruby prepared herself with Crescent Rose, Blake readied Gambol Shroud. With a quick start, Ruby dashed towards Blake and gave a swift swipe with her weapon, but Blake prepared, using her semblance to avoid her attack. Blake readied to strike, until Ruby quickly turned back around and once again swung Crescent Rose, causing Blake to block with her weapon's sheath. Blake began moving around Ruby quickly, repeatedly slashing at her as she blocked with Crescent Rose. Ruby was beginning to feel the pressure, and she had an idea to release it, by waiting for Blake to lunge at her, and once she did, Ruby instead dodged and pointed her gun right at Blake and fired. Blake, however, was quick with a response, and used her semblance once more to avoid the bullet, and used this moment to lunge right at Ruby for a devastating attack. But like Blake, Ruby had a trick up her sleeve, and used her semblance to avoid Blake, and created some distance between the both of them.

Ruby smiled "You're as quick as ever Blake! But not as quick as me!" and she began to charge at Blake.

Blake smirked and charged at Ruby as well, with Ruby once again taking the initiative and swinging Crescent Rose around, making sure to keep Blake close, but not too close. Where ever Blake tried to break through Ruby's defenses, she was met with the sharp end of a scythe. Blake then decided there's only one way of getting out of this situation, and lunged backwards, then charged forwards towards Ruby, and at the last moment, used her semblance to push herself upwards above Ruby. Ruby quickly pointed her weapon upwards and fired a sniper round at Blake, and Blake couldn't have wanted it any other way. She took the bait. Blake used her semblance once more and pushed herself downwards with it, then used the ribbon on her weapon to grapple Ruby's foot and pulled, causing the young huntress to fall over. This was her chance, and she charged and began to swing downward onto Ruby, only stopping right at the last minute, her blade being a hair's width away from Ruby's face. Blake then playfully turned her blade and booped Ruby's nose with the back of her weapon. "I win."

Ruby giggled a bit, then got right back up with the help of Blake. Although training was helpful, it tends to leave a small scar of disappointment when you realize not only someone is well versed in your fighting styles and knows how to beat you, but also they can actually beat you, meaning you have to get stronger. "Congratulations Blake." As Ruby got up, she noticed that Ren and Pyrrha were still training, so she and Blake had some time to themselves. Or at least she would have, but a certain person was clapping playfully, and Ruby could barely see them hiding in the trees. Zim.

And from the forest came four other teens as well. "Greetings Ms. Ruby!" Shouted a very excited Cris.

Zim stood up from the branch he was sitting on, carrying a briefcase with him, and began walking towards Ruby "Wonderous fight Ruby, and same onto your part Blake. Your fighting styles are incredible, and something tells me you're only going to improve when time...goes...Why are you staring at me like that?" It was at this point Zim realized he was not walking on the ground below him and instead was above it, floating above Ruby and Blake since he didn't get down from the branch he was sitting on, and when he realized his predicament he fell face first right into the ground. He got up weakly with an equally weak groan "First rule of cartoons ladies...If something looks weird, don't give off the idea of it, otherwise the consequences of it tend to fall upon you...heheh...ouch..." 

Ruby helped him up, and once he dusted himself off and reformed his hat, she smiled seeing that they had arrived. "What brings you guys here? Did you guys figure out a way to save our world already?!" Ruby asked, excitedly. 

B.D looked towards Jack-o, who's candle was flickering wildly and his stance was shaky, and Joy couldn't help but giggle to himself. Cris looked towards Ruby and gave her an awkward smile "Well...yes...but we need to talk to you...badly." He looked at the other hunters and huntresses present here, and noticed a select few he hasn't met before. "Oh! Hello!"

Ren studied these people and tried to wrap his head around what had just been said. _Figure out a way to save our world already? rule of cartoons?_ "Uhh...hi?"

Jaune looked at them and got up excitedly from where he was sitting "OH! Are you those space jumpers Ruby was talking about? Actually, the whole schools been talking about. They couldn't believe one of you got decked in the stomach by Yang of all people!"

Joy went from a small giggle to a hard laugh "HA! Scarf-boy's famous!"

"We're known as universe jumpers. Mind if we take this to your room Ruby? Please it's extremely important and..." Cris looked towards the people behind Ruby "Would it be best if her friends came along?"

Jack-o quickly nodded in agreement "Keeping secrets and the possibility of lying is a sure fire way to losing trust, we've seen the consequences first hand." Jack-o then looked towards Zim, and he happily gave the briefcase he held a good shake, the sound of dust hidden inside. 

"See? i'm no liar, dust is all a-ok!" He then opened the briefcase and looked inside, then quickly closed it with a scared look on his face and Jack-o could only sigh in disappointment "So Uhh...you wanted this dust to be in...dust form, right?"

Cris looked towards Ruby, who was concerned as to what they needed to discuss about. "Please, I'll explain along the way."

/////

"And that's how we ended up here. Any questions?"

Ruby began pacing, trying to absorb everything she just heard. None of team RWBY nor team JNPR had any idea if what they just heard was true, or just fatigue from all the training. She has heard of stories about giant monsters, Grimm the size of mountains, and had dreams of being known as super duper Ruby, saving the world from the evil forces of big meanie Grimm. But those had been around since she was born. Never had she heard the story of these eldritch creatures.

"And that's...going to...?"

Jack-o looked towards Ruby as his candle flickered softly "That's what it was designed for." He then looked back to what he had been working on, which was complete with some dust and Zim reforming himself as a microscope, until Jack-o was finished and closed the petri dish he brought with him and held out the tank towards Ruby. She was very unsure about this idea the longer Jack-o showed her the tank, the thought of something so powerful and deadly inside such a small tank making her shiver. Ruby looked towards everyone else for answers, and yet none of them had any idea of what to think, let alone what to feel. However, one person had an idea of what to feel. The atmosphere between them got cold. What to say, and how to say it became the big question for Weiss. She tried her best to form some sequence of words to express her feelings to Ruby on how she feels about this, but nothing came to mind. It either sounds too mean, to foreword, to selfish, just not right. Nothing sounded right to say, so Weiss did the only thing she thought was logical. She got a hold of Ruby and hugged tight. Ruby didn't hug back, she just stood there blank faced, staring off into space until the both of them slid to the floor onto their knees. Soon, she spoke. "Weiss...what do you think?"

Weiss looked her in the eye "Don't. It's Ludacris and you know that Ruby Rose! Why would you ever do that?! Where's the logic in that?!" Ruby looked away for a moment. Weiss couldn't believe what she was seeing. "You're genuinely thinking about doing it?!? WHY?!"

Ruby had to tell her, otherwise there would be no logic in her answer. "Weiss...Remember the time Saxton showed you the multiverse?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Well...Cris has a similar ability...But it's the future."

"Wait, you saw the future?" Weiss trembled, afraid what Ruby could've seen that could be as bad as what she saw. 

"Yeah...He told me what he saw, and I...I'm..." Ruby began to tremble as well, and soon grabbed Weiss in a tighter hug, which normally Weiss would ask Ruby to at least loosen her grip, but Weiss only held on with the same amount of tightness. None of them could let go. Silence had filled the room, followed by some sobbing from Ruby and Weiss. Ruby then quickly wiped her tears and looked at Weiss, their eyes locking with each other. Ruby gave Weiss a firm kiss, which Weiss returned and after what felt like a mere moment, Ruby broke the kiss and looked towards Jack-o, who was sitting at her desk pondering something, as Zim jumped off and reformed into himself. "Jack-o..."

"Present..."

"That vial of yours..."

"The eternal vials cures any illness and fixes any injury, no matter how bad it may be. If anything goes wrong, you have my word...no, my life, that we will make sure you won't die."

Weiss stood up quickly and turned Ruby so she was facing her, locking their eyes again. She didn't say anything, neither could Ruby. But she had made her decision. Weiss gave her one final kiss and one tight hug before moving away from her. Ruby looked at Cris, who was tightly hugging a pillow, his form slightly melting from the stress. He gave her a quick, anxious nod, and Ruby looked towards Jack-o. "Promise?"

Jack-o looked towards Ruby, and proceeded to reach out a twig towards her, but he was careful and slow, like he would normally treat a new animal he would find. "With my life."

His hand was shaky, and Ruby noticed that. "Afraid I won't like what will happen?"

"Afraid of ruining everything I promised." She then gave him a handshake, his twig growing and holding onto her hand softly.

"Alright, but one last thing...Who are you?"

Jack-o's flame flickered slightly "In life, I was a monster. I saw humanity as a toy, and I gladly played with it, experimented on it, killed it." As he said that, Ruby noticed a breeze behind her and she turned to see that her room had changed. No longer was there a double decker bed behind her, but rather dirt, a street, and a man walking out of a building looking directly at her.

"Y-young lady...Help...HELP ME!!" Shouted the man, and he began running towards her, screaming for help until his leg gave out, snapping as he screamed In pain. The old man began crawling frantically towards Ruby as she began to walk away from the man in fear, and soon the man's cries for help had turned to unintelligible screams of insanity. Ruby covered her ears, the man's screams still getting louder and louder, the man crawling closer and closer, breaking finger after finger crawling until he was crawling with the stubs of his hands. Ruby trembled and fell, ready to scream herself, let the old man have what he wants and just scream her head off, until the old man's head began shaking violently, and soon...SNAP. His lower jaw unhinged, and his screams continued, until Ruby had enough. She ran and almost kicked the man right in the head just to stop the screaming until something pulled her back, and the old man bashed his head on the ground. THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! And after a while the old man stopped moving, and when Ruby looked up, she saw the dirt, the street, the building the old man came through was on fire.

"But I felt no remorse for the lives I took, so I simply ran far and wide as some miracle doctor, offering medicine after medicine, which were just my pathogen's spreading. What I called a cure for osteoporosis, only amplified it and drove old men like him mad. What I called a fix for those with amputees, only gave them bodies which they could not control, a form none could explain, a mind none could understand. What those people called plagues, I called blessings of nature. But one day, I got punished for my plagues. " 

Ruby turned to face Jack-o, but was greeted by a small crowd surrounding a man wearing a bag on his head, and a noose around his neck. "Any last words, plague spreader?!" Asked the man on the podium. 

The young man who was about to be hung laughed hysterically "More so a last request for all of you. Do try to practice social distancing. Don't be like me." A man began coughing in the crowd, and Ruby looked towards him. He was coughing pretty hard, to the point where it looked like he couldn't breathe. "Be yourselves, be the people you truly wish you think you are. Oh, and one last thing." The man was now on the floor, laying on his back, and Ruby was terrified. The man continued coughing, jerking upwards, scratching at his throat. He wanted to scream, Ruby can plainly see that, but he couldn't. The crowd saw this and some went to help the man, but another cough was heard. Then another cough. Then someone fell to the ground as well. The young man started to laugh, and the man at the podium started to go for the lever to hang the laughing lunatic. He would have, if someone didn't scream out of fear, and the man turned to see the coughing man was jerking violently, until it burst. From his throat, a big bug emerged, slicing open the man's throat and going after some of the innocent people around him. Then another bug emerged. And another. But the man on stage had to act fast, and he quickly went for the lever and pulled it, but not before getting stabbed in his chest. The bugs had blades. The bugs had wings. The bugs were blood thirsty. The man on stage toppled over, and the young man fell, and the rope tightened. But after a while, the young man began laughing again, louder and happier this time. He had tightened his neck so the rope wouldn't separate his spinal cord from his brain stem, and the fact that he doesn't even need to fake his own death makes it all the better. Bugs flew everywhere, all around Ruby, who ducked for cover. But none of the bugs payed her any mind, and one of the bugs even landed in front of her, gave her a long stare, but then flew next to her to stab a woman trying to run away. The young man then stared down one of the bugs, who was looking directly at him, and he smiled, then gave his final words "Take care of my pets will you? THANKS GUYS!!" And with a final laugh, the bug charged at him, stabbing him in his heart, and the laughter grew more and more silent. 

"I was then turned into a scarecrow by the only survivor of that travesty...guess he wanted to show off my corpse as some means of getting back at me for everything I've done. Well, nine other folk found me, and gave me this." Jack-o stated, tapping the green glowing gemstone inside his cloth. "A gemstone, capable of giving life to those who lost it, at a steep price of nonstop voices in your head, of constant bad thoughts rummaging through you like a hurricane. Those universe jumpers, as they called themselves, they needed me for a special mission of some kind the Elder ones gave them. I made my point clear and gave the man the worst fear he could ever ask for. And..." Jack-o went silent, and Ruby blinked, only to see she was back in her room. "That's how they found me. I was the one who killed folk for science, for fun. I was the one who shaped the world around me as I saw fit. Any questions?"

Ruby looked at Jack-o, who's flame died off a bit, to the point she could almost not see it's light. "Yeah...who are you now?"

Jack-o saw this question coming, but was unprepared to answer. He looked down at the gemstone in his chest, its voices forever clouding his mind. "I'm...Not perfect. None of us are. We're the most emotionally unstable bunch of folk you'll ever meet. We probably couldn't hold a stable job in this universe even if we wanted to. Who I am now is...Conflicted. Caring. Cynical. Afraid. Selfish at times, but also can be Selfless. But above all else...Unstable."

Ruby looked at her friends lying on the beds and on the ground. Ren and Jaune were giving her concerned looks, Nora shaking her head no, Pyrrha looking away, Blake in a ball pondering, Weiss looking back at Ruby with concern, and Yang with a serious look on her face. Ruby knew that although she looked serious, she was very worried and conflicted. There was no right answer, no correct path to take. They had a lot of time to prepare, and only Ruby knew the truth. 1 year and 9 months was all they had. Or at worst, in theory, because they might have that much time to prepare, but not a lot of time to proceed. They might be prepared, but not ready. Ruby was worried now, she looked outside her window at the forest surrounding Beacon. Grimm hid there. Grimm who were getting stronger everyday, and so was Ruby, but maybe not enough. Grimm could evolve and get stronger on a whim. Ruby didn't have that luxury. Weiss stood beside her once more. "Do you trust them?" Ruby looked at Weiss, then at the misfits who laid in her room. She saw a robot who loved music, a water being who could predict the future, a being of ink who only wanted to make people happy, a smoke being in a hoodie who smiled forever, and a scarecrow...who regrets everything. But they all had one thing in common.

"They care." Ruby noted.

Weiss looked at her and held Ruby's hand. "Promise you will have sense and safety in your mind Ruby Rose."

Ruby looked at Weiss. She saw the fear in her eyes, but she saw the care and concern. These universe jumpers weren't just helping them because it's part of their job. It's because of care and concern. Ruby gave a final hug to Weiss "Always.". She then broke the hug and looked towards Jack-o, who had sat upon her bed, and his flame grew brighter. Cris and the rest of the gang knew what was coming, but Jack-o was the most prepared. This was his time to prove himself. Prove that he's more than a heartless scarecrow. Ruby stared at Jack-o and smiled. 

"So, Ruby Rose...Do you trust me?"

Ruby nodded "More than ever." She said anxiously. Sure she was confident with her answer, but there was still risk in what was to come. 

Jack-o's flame grew bright and big. "Then...Let's begin." 


	12. The Infected

Tea was poured as per usual for Kokichi by Saxton, and once Saxton sat down besides Kokichi they both looked into a monitor, courtesy of Kokichi's camera and drone technology, which showed the world of Remnant. Concern had filled both their faces as they saw Grimm after Grimm growing in numbers and stalking around the forest. They saw a glimmer of hope, however, in the many students of Beacon training. Kokichi pushed a button and the monitor changed from the realm of Vale to the world of Atlas, showing the Grimm once again adapting to their harsh environment with impressive success. The humans had evolved and adapted to their environment as well with their highly advanced technology, along with their high supply of dust. Kokichi had hoped soon, once finished with Vale, they would visit Atlas next, and unlock its many secrets of technology, comparing it to his. But even with this glimmer of hope, Kokichi looked back at his plan for Grimm extinction, which was a plan to pinpoint ever black pool of Grimm and to use technology to extinguish the Grimm pool. Kill the Grimm at the source seemed fairly easy enough at first, but after seeing just how big this universe is, it might even be too much for Kokichi to simply find every pool. Neither he nor Saxton even know if the pools can just reform, let alone if their plan would work. God forbid Jack-o's plan actually works, the death rate might skyrocket and he would never know. Soon he was shaking at the thought, and Saxton patted him on the back for reassurance. 

Kokichi sighed "I know Saxton, I shouldn't worry too much about the pathogen. He has the eternal vial with him, but I still have a bad feeling of him risking everyone's lives like that..."

Saxton moved closer to Kokichi for a small cuddle "It will be alright, I'm sure of it. If his plan works, then we know how to deal with it, and if ours works, then we know how to apply it to the world."

Kokichi smiled "Yeah...You're right."

"Aren't I always?"

"About 70% of the time, yes." Saxton giggled, and Kokichi pressed another button, which switched the view back to Beacon. Now it was difficult for Kokichi to always keep an eye on Ruby and her friends due to the many Grimm events happening around the world, but Kokichi had figured out how to manage. So far he's been pretty calm and proud of Ruby, for her training had improved a ton over the past few months, and her fighting style had improved exponentially. But today, he would have to check up on Ruby in person. He quietly got up and grabbed his backpack-box and readied his jumper ring, and Saxton picked up his tea cup and box of jammie dodgers and prepared to embark back to Beacon. They were planning to only visit occasionally, focusing more on figuring out an alternative solution than to spend time with friends. But today, and the many days that would follow shall be very different. Their task used to be 'find a way to end the Grimm threat', and now that has changed to 'Keep an eye on a sick teenager', which Kokichi wasn't very fond of.

/////

Weiss had not touched her food in a while, and it wasn't hard for anyone to figure out why. What they were doing was possibly the most riskiest thing ever. Fighting Grimm, that's normal, but getting yourself a pathogen from an alien race of misfits in order to get stronger which can accidentally kill you, now that was something everyone had a problem grasping, but Weiss took it the hardest. She didn't eat anything, and if it wasn't for Yang and Jaune's constant demanding of Weiss eating her food, she would've left the cafeteria with an empty stomach. Weiss then began eating, slowly like everyone else. 

"She's going to be ok, or at least I hope." Began Weiss.

Yang shook her head "I don't hope she's going to be ok, I know damn well she's going to come out fine and even stronger than before!"

"They never did tell us when Ruby would get out though." Stated Jaune.

"Or maybe something worse might happen." Ren spoke up, grabbing the attention of everyone else.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Asked Blake.

"The scarecrow's story...He turned an entire town into unrecognizable monsters...do you guys think perhaps...?" Ren asked, but before he could finish his thought, Nora quickly ran into the cafeteria holding a plate with a bunch of napkins covering something, and once she reached the table, she lifted the napkins to reveal a stack of pancakes, happily serving Ren one and herself the rest of the plate. Ren inspected the pancake, stabbed it 3 times with his fork, then gave it to Nora. "Too much batter, not enough water. You're getting there." Nora smiled, and happily began eating her stack. 

"So" Nora began with a mouth full of pancakes "What were you guys talking about?"

"Ruby, do you think she'll be ok?" Weiss asked.

Nora swallowed her food, and giggled "She's as fine as a pair of glasses being polished by Ozpin. Ink-a-wink told me."

"Ink-a-what?" Blake asked.

"Ink-a-wink. The black, liquidy fella. He told me she was having a blast with some skeleton dude."

Yang was surprised "Skeleton dude? What skeleton dude?"

Ren perked up from his food "When we first met them, they did say there were about 10 of them. Maybe this is another one of those...what were they called?"

Pyrrha answered "They called themselves universe jumpers. It's so strange that these guys just randomly appeared one day and how lucky they're on our side."

Weiss nodded "I just hope Ruby is doing ok, who knows what they're doing to her?" She continued eating, but stopped when she saw Kokichi and Saxton walking across the schoolyard towards the dorms, which made Weiss sigh. "Sometimes I wish that I wasn't with universe jumpers and diseases and just back to the good ol' days where the only thing I had to worry about was Grimm."

Nora nodded in agreement, syrup spilling through her mouth. All Weiss could do now was slowly lower her head towards the table and reflect on where in her life did she go wrong to end up in this situation.

/////

Ruby giggled once more when the puppet went on top of her and booped her on the nose. The puppet then held out it's hand and Ruby shook it politely "And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Puppet." Some bones could be heard clacking with happiness from behind the puppet. Cinos was the one holding the puppet and doing all this entertainment while wearing a brown satchel, while Jack-o sat on Yang's bed, analyzing Ruby's every move, while B.D was happily playing some Mexican music in a corner.

"Slow, weak movements...tiredness....somewhat pale skin...one arm looks flimsy...how impressive..." Jack-o wrote down in a notebook as he talked to Cris, who sat right next to him on the bed.

"Impressive? What's impressive?" Cris asked.

"It's just...she's still happy. Through this, in the span of 2 and a half days, she's gotten pale, she's weak in her arm, she looks horrible...and yet..."

"She's happy, probably because she trusts us so much."

"I'm not sure that's just her compassionate nature leaking or a bad judge of character."

"I guess it depends on the end result Mr. Jack-o." Jack-o looked back at Ruby, who was weak and sick in bed, happily play-dancing with a puppet. Jack-o's flame flickered, and he slowly and silently wrote something down in the notebook. Suddenly, a soft knock could be heard at the door. 

Zim happily jumped off of Weiss's bed and walked towards the door and asked kindly "Who is it?"

"Kokichi and Saxton. Open the door." Kokichi responded.

Zim happily replied "What's the password?" And Kokichi rudely and unhappily slammed the door open, crushing Zim against the wall, leaving him an inky mess. "S-sorry sir...'SLAM!' is not the password, please try again tomorrow..."

Both of them walked in slowly, taking in what was happening. B.D had stopped playing music, Cinos had hid under the covers of Weiss' bed, and Cris was waving at the 2 while Jack-o was shaking.

"Greetings Ms. Rose. How are you feeling over there?" Asked Saxton. 

Ruby gave a weak thumbs up, only to put it down quickly as she turned into a small coughing fit. Kokichi could only shake his head in disapproval.

"How much longer shall she stay like this Jack-o?"

Jack-o could barely get the words out of his flickering flame through his flickering figure "P-patience Kokichi. Just be a b-bit patience and you'll see! In just a month's time, I assure you!" 

Kokichi looked back at Ruby coughing and shook his head. "Very well. You still have the eternal vial?"

"Right here!" Joy said, presenting the vial carefully. Kokichi and Saxton were satisfied. 

"Well, shall we take our leave now Kokichi?" Asked Saxton. 

Kokichi gave one last look towards Ruby, who smiled and waved at Kokichi weakly. "Yes, take care of her, got it?" And the 6 universe jumpers nodded their heads, as Kokichi and Saxton left the room, and after a while, through the window, they saw the 2 of them toss a jumper ring and leave. 

Soon Zim placed himself back together, and walked towards the gang, giving a glance at Ruby "Aren't they great? Sure they can be a bit rough sometimes, but they care about us as much as we care about you Ruby! Why, I wouldn't be shocked if they even found someone like you as amazing of a person as-" But before Zim could finish his sentence, Ruby gave out a cough. Then she covered her mouth and coughed again, and again. Then he heard something wet, and Ruby stopped coughing and pulled her hand away from her mouth. Covering her hand was a black liquid, with the same feel as blood. Zim almost screamed, but quickly covered his mouth with one hand, and started tapping the shoulders of his friends with the other. Jack-o was both amazed and terrified. 

"A-already?! it's only been three days!"

Joy was shocked "Do these things usually take longer?" 

Jack-o turned to face Joy with his flame flickering crazily "Well yeah it's suppose to take longer!! My original prototype of the pathogen only started taking effect after a month back in the old days, BUT IT'S ONLY BEEN 3 DAYS!!"

Ruby was starting to get worried, and Cinos quickly noticed. He came out of Weiss' covers, climbed back up to Ruby's bed and picked up his puppet and attempted to try and make Ruby smile again. But Ruby couldn't look up, she could only stare at the black liquid that covered her hand. She focused on the comments said by the people next to her. She tried to collect her thoughts, but there were too many to count, let alone organize. Eldritch evolution, black liquid, 3 days. Those thoughts flooded her mind, until she felt something on her cheek. She turned to see Cinos. She saw him holding a puppet, and that puppet looked back at her. But the puppet looked less like a manly puppet, and more like an old friend of her's, looked more like a certain woman she had fallen for. "W-Weiss?" Ruby's fears had turned into tears, and she held onto the puppet and cried, and Cinos grabbed his sowing supplies and placed them back into his satchel and stepped down from the bed and looked towards Jack-o for answers. Jack-o could only looked towards the crying Ruby and sigh. 

/////

"These mortals are quite intriguing. Wouldn't you agree?" Jackal asked, watching Ruby's sickness from his room, looking through his book to see her struggles. Next to him was something squid-like, tentacles coming out from an orb as he looked deeper into his book, smiling as his curiosity ran wild through his mind, until a voice knocked him out of his fantasies.

"And dangerous, given enough time." a voice spoke through the orb, as it floated in front of Jackal's face to get his attention. He faced the orb with a smile.

"Wouldn't it be awful if they just so happen to infect your children, my Goddess?"

Salem smiled "Only the best for my followers." Some maniacal laughter could be heard in the background, and Jackal became curious.

"You'll have to introduce me to the family sometime, I bet they hardly know of such divinity, such a divine intervention from the cosmos."

"But of course. Tyrian, say hello." Salem requested.

As quick as lightning Tyrian ran in front of the orb and gave his best "HELLO!! HAHA!!" he could muster, as Jackal quietly waved back.

" 'Introduce me to the family sometime'? This is so childish." Said a sophisticated voice as he walked towards the orb, revealing himself. "Oh goody, please state your name."

"Jackal. Pleasure to meet you."

"Charming. My name is Dr. Arthur Watts. Pleasure to meet you as well." He said, then quickly got back to his seat.

Behind where Arthur stood sat a huge man who looked towards the orb and gave a small, gentle wave. "Greetings."

Jackal gave a wave back "And greetings to you too. May I have your name?"

The man gave a soft smile. "Hazel. Hazel Rainart. Good to meet you." He held out a hand to shake, and the orb gave out one of its many tentacles and gave Hazel's hand a soft shake. Jackal did the same with his. 

"Charmed."

Finally, A woman cladded in red appeared before the orb. "You must be the new member of Salem's circle?"

Jackal gave a dry laugh to himself "New? I'm older than you could ever imagine. Me and Salem had nice chats, some nice meet ups, and some nice demonstrations of divine beauty. She showed me the darkness that consumed all of Remnant, and I showed her the light to guide it along with you to your deserved revenge against the worthless heretics that dare defy us."

The woman gave a small smile "Cinder Fall."

Jackal gave an equally small smile "Jackal." 

Cinder went back to sitting down, as a girl in green and a boy in grey looked towards Cinder for instructions. "Don't be shy. Say hello to our new teammate." 

The girl and boy went over to the orb to see this teen in what they believed to be Vacuo clothing. The girl was the first to speak "My name is Emerald Sustrai. This here is Mercury Black." 

Jackal gave the 2 a good look. He could see their potential, but for what he couldn't pinpoint. Potential to become stronger, or potential to fail miserably. He couldn't decide. "My name is Jackal. It's a pleasure to meet you 2." Emerald and Mercury then walked back to Cinder, almost in a hurrying state. 

Salem then stood up, along with the rest of the table "Now that introductions are out of the way, I would like to see what our new friend can pull off. Jackal, care to give some information on what you can do?"

Jackal smiled "Gladly. Followers of all shapes and sizes, I am more than honored to see you all here, being the best followers of your true goddess. But these hunters and huntresses are getting stronger and stronger, and although the Grimm are too, we cannot rely on our creatures alone to overcome the wretched mortal existence of heretics. Heretics are the filthy disease that spreads throughout Remnant, infecting every single mortal in sight, and we cannot have that. But today, you are now informed of my alliance alongside you all. With me, through me and along with my divine light and justice, I shall promise you every single heretic that ever thinks about breathing on this planet shall have their lives taken just as quickly. But a God cannot control a world without followers, and luckily we have you. As followers, you have seen the better struggle that is disorder, with huntresses and hunters killing with no end against a fight they cannot win. Insanity has spilled and has been absorbed by the masses, and what do the heretics do? They certainly don't turn tail and realize what they're doing is a pointless struggle and join the true cause. No, they simply blame us, they blame you, and they blame their Goddess for their problems, and that idea spreads like a wildfire, covering everything and everyone, from Atlas to Vale. But not anymore, for tomorrow, I shall prove my worth as a deity, as a companion, as a follower, and together, we shall overcome this pitiful struggle that is the filth of heretics! Together, we shall bring down the pitiful mortals that roam this plane of existence. Together, we shall smite the pests that dare invade our garden of divine justice. Together, we shall become divine!"

Salem was intrigued "And what, exactly, are you planning to do tomorrow?"

Jackal gave a small dry laugh "Research, testing, a little recon work for you all. With this knowledge under our belts, Vale, along with the rest of Remnant, is as good as ours." 


	13. Gone

Once again, the ticking sound of the alarm clock continued as per usual every morning.

_Tick...Tock..._

Zim laid on the bed of Weiss. He was left in charge of keeping an eye on Ruby, and he gave his word that no matter what, he wouldn't let her out of his sight.

_Tick...Tock..._

For Zim, it was intense yesterday, learning how this eldritch evolution thing works, but for now, he could sleep peacefully. Or he would, until the dreaded-

_Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggg!!!!_

Zim's eyes sprang open, and he quickly shapeshifted into a rooster, and cock-a-doodle-dooed happily, waking both him up as well as Ruby. He quickly reformed back to his original self, pulled out a hammer out of nowhere, and slammed the alarm clock, smashing it into little pieces. He then pulled out a dust pan and broom and swept the broken alarm clock pieces away, tossed it out the window, and pulled off his arm and formed it into another alarm clock, and placed it softly where it originally was. Once he reformed his arm, he took a deep breath and took a quick look at his surroundings. "Well golly! Good Mythical Morning Ruby Rose!" But Ruby didn't answer, and was still fast asleep. "Stubborn are we?" Zim whispered to himself, as he went over and poked Ruby with his extended finger, but she refused to wake up entirely, and Zim was beginning to become impatient. "Come on! The sun's out, the birds are singing, and the window's broken, letting all that wonderful sunshine through! What could you not like about- wait what?" Zim suddenly realized what he said. He was, in fact, not poking Ruby, but rather her pillow. He did, in fact, not throw the alarm clock pieces out the window before opening it, the window was broken from the start. He also realized that, in fact, there was a huge crater at the bottom of the building, like something jumped through the window and landed there and scurried away. He laughed to himself "Oh I see! Ruby just ran away because she transformed into some kind of eldritch monstrosity without my knowledge. Now everything makes sense." He then grabbed his neck and pulled as far from his body as possible and then let go, and his neck formed into a bowtie. He then spun around until his form was adorned in his Italian coat and shoes, as well as his pants, and he left the room, closing the door behind him. 5 milliseconds later, Zim crashed back into the room in total shock and fear. "OH F**K RUBY'S GONE!!!" He jumped out through the window and fell straight to the ground, ink splattering everywhere. Once he pulled himself together, he quickly began running towards the forest, cursing himself along the way. "Zim you big fat Putana! Now Ruby's somewhere in that Grimm infected forest and you don't even have a clue as to where she might even be! Oh god Weiss is going to kill me if she found out I- Oh hey Weiss- If she found out Ruby escaped and can quite possibly die if I don't find her quickly enough!"

"RUBY WHAT?!" Weiss exclaimed. But before another word could be spoken, Zim quickly shot for the forest. So quickly, in fact, that he left an ink trail to mark his way back to beacon. 

"Ruby's missing?!" Exclaimed Yang.

"What are we waiting for?! We have to go find her!" Advised Jaune. And thus the remaining members of team RWBY and team JNPR raced off into the forest in search of their friend, while Weiss ran off to give Zim a piece of her mind. 

/////

"RUBY!" Cris called out, but to no avail. He and the rest of his team had received the message from Zim which read "Ruby escaped, Weiss wants me dead and I don't want to die. Please god help me. She might be in the forest, just find her please guys!!" It was convenient that the team went into the forest to test out their newly dust-powered weapons, but although the message was clear about it's location, it couldn't be more unspecific, since they had the 4 of them, but Zim was nowhere to be found, let alone Ruby. Joy looked in the trees, B.D scanned the ground, Jack-o listening for some unfamiliar sound, and Cris becoming more and more worried. They had no leads as to where Ruby could be found. She didn't leave a trail, and they don't even know if she looks, or hell even thinks, the same anymore. 

"Nothing. I have no clue as to where to begin." Jack-o began, and he was beginning to worry too. "I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have just let her go, I should've stayed by her side and-"

Cris came in and gave Jack-o a quick hug "It's fine. We'll find her, I promise." Jack-o simply patted Cris on the head before he let go. He was right, they will find her, but where could they even continue looking? They were way too small compared to the forest, she could've ran far, far away for all they knew. But suddenly they heard it. The sound that Jack-o wasn't actually expecting, but it was a welcomed sound nonetheless. The sound of hope.

"FOUND HERRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Zim exclaimed.

"He's that way!" And soon they left in a hurry, noticing that Zim's shout wasn't the only sound they heard, but rather it was accompanied by loud crashes and Grimm crying out. 

/////

The sound dug into Cris' mind, and Jack-o actually stumbled a few times. It sounded inhuman, but also sounded like a human screaming for someone to help him, like an animal who's been abused and crying loudly again for someone to put it down. It sounded like death, a feeling Jack-o once loved, but now he runs with weak legs and a team to drive him forward. The crashes didn't stop either, tree after tree fell, the ground shook without pattern, without warning, loud crash after loud crash played like a symphony of destruction, and soon, the team reached a clearing. The birds chirped, the crashing had seemed to stop, and screeching...continued. But it wasn't a screech from a Grimm, but rather a screech from a certain, high pitched ink thing running towards Cris. "WATCH OUT!" Was what Cris had heard. A large tentacle was what he was met with. He was pushed into a tree, and his form faltered. Jack-o cried out, but not before dodging a tentacle coming his way. He pulled out his kusarigama and prepared himself. No longer would he run, now it was time to face what he had made. He charged at the thing, but not before it tried to strike him with another tentacle, but he quickly dodged it, and he stabbed it with his hook and sliced downward, causing the creature to scream, piercing everyone ears. But Jack-o was quick, and pulled out his hook and prepared to knock the thing out using the ball on the other end, but not before the creature recovered and swung something so quickly at Jack-o that he never saw it coming. Cris cried out, and Jack-o fell. He noticed the wound he left was no longer there. He noticed the bottom half of him going away from his body. He noticed the thing that had sliced him was a scythe, but crescent rose was nowhere to be found. A screech could be heard, but it wasn't from a Grimm, but from the creature, as it swung it's arm around. It took a swing at a tree, and it's scythe, it's arm, it's new found blade cut clean through the thick trunk, as well as the body of Jack-o. 

"RUBY!" Weiss called out, and the creature turned to see team JNPR and the remaining members of team RWBY, as well as Weiss in tears. Her lover's legs had turned into tentacles. Her lover's arm had become a scythe. Her lover's stomach was replaced with teeth and a furnace. Her lover had turned into a nightmare. Her nightmare screeched, and swung it's scythe at her, and Cris pushed Weiss to the ground, and the scythe sliced through Cris clean. Weiss would've screamed again, if it weren't the fact that Cris was made of water, and was perfectly unharmed. But Ruby was, both mentally and physically. The creature continued screaming and thrashing around, its pain piercing through everyone present.

"Knock it out. Go for the head." Cris gave the command to his team, and they got to work. Cris charged, readying himself for whatever the thing would throw at him. It screeched, and tried slicing with it's scythe once more, to no avail. Cris was close to it's head, and Joy was as well. But the creature was quick, much too quick for it's size, and both Cris and Joy were met with a tentacle and a tree. Joy's smoke dispersed, and Cris' head exploded in a watery spectacle once they were smacked into the tree. Joy quickly got himself together, but was much too weak to even get up, and Cris was much too occupied keeping himself together. Zim tried to slither his way up to her head, dodging every tentacle and Scythe, but the fires from her stomach got the better of him, and he was almost burned to a crisp, if B.D didn't help him dodge out of the way. B.D's arm was burned, but Zim wasn't.

"Thanks for the save buddy!"

"I'm going to Beacon to get some help, you keep her occupied!" Zim nodded, and B.D left quickly for Beacon. Zim tried once more, dodging every strike from the creature, but before it could burn him into an unrecognizable pile of ash, it flinched at the shot taken from the back of it's head. Kokichi and Saxton had arrived, and were placing pressure on it from behind.

"Once this is all over you f**kers better have a damn good explanation for this!" 

"Trust me we will...probably not." Zim said weakly, and the creature screamed again as Zim turned to face Jaune slicing tentacle after tentacle off of the creature along with Pyrrha, and Ren was attempting to get Nora to it's head. The amount of stress the thing felt was phenomenal, so much so it didn't even realize Zim at the top with his comical hammer.

"NIGHTY-NIGHT!" Shouted Zim, and he took one big swing at it's head, and a loud crack could be heard. Weiss gasped, Yang and Blake charged, and Zim was scared when he saw Ruby's eyes shine with a silver glow, as her head gave another crack as it fixed itself. "Huh...So that just happened...Great." A tentacle grabbed him and slammed him onto the ground, then into a nearby tree, where he was repeatedly slammed into, and once the tree fell, he was then moved to being slammed repeatedly into the ground. Yang and Blake tried to distract Ruby from the others by applying pressure all around her, but Ruby only screamed, and huge flames spread all around her, engulfing Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, and blinding Yang and Blake. Jaune and Pyrrha were tossed aside like towels towards the trees, Ren and Nora were beaten to the ground unconscious, then thrown aside as well. Yang was smacked by a tentacle, and normally would've gotten up stronger, but was pinned to the ground, and Blake was flicked away, her arm being smacked against a tree, a loud snap followed as she screamed in pain. The creature's attention turned to Yang, readying her stomach as Yang could hear a deep breath from the furnace pointed towards her. She screamed, but it was muffled by the tentacle on top of her. Soon her screams went from those of calling out to Ruby, to screams of fear, of an animal begging for mercy, a being afraid of death.

Weiss quickly ran over to Ruby, tears falling down as she shouted towards her "RUBY STOP!!!" 

"WEISS NO!" Shouted Kokichi, but Saxton quickly grabbed Kokichi before a tentacle grazed the 2. Weiss stood straight, and the creature stood with a crooked spine, a blazing stomach, and a blank, emotionless face. 

"R-ruby?" The creature moved closer, Yang still under it's tentacle, Zim now being pinned down with no escape route, and team JNPR decimated, and the Universe Jumpers scattered. It reached out a hand to touch the left side of Weiss' face, while it's other reached to touch her right side. "I-it's me...Weiss..." She reached out to touch Ruby's face. The creature was calm. She was calm. She began to lay down onto the ground as Ruby's hands lowered to her shoulder. "I know you're not like this. Let's go home Ruby...Let's go..." Soon Ruby was above her, and she was below. The hands were cold, the face was cold as well, but Weiss didn't mind. She didn't mind what had happened to Ruby, as long as she was safe. She didn't mind her hands being on her neck, as long as she was safe. She didn't mind her friends dying alongside her, as long as...."R-ruby..." Weiss said through short breaths as Ruby clutched tighter, lifting her scythe high in the air. The feeling Weiss felt was cold, but the cold feeling would soon leave as she was met with a much more warm feeling. She was warm at the thought of Ruby above her, the feeling of her skin next to hers, the feeling of intimacy she was denied for a while. The feeling of death approaching by her lover, the feeling of her hands tightening around her neck as she struggles to breath, the sound of Kokichi trying to save her, only for the tentacles to deny him such a request, the feeling of a furnace near her feet. Weiss smiled as her body squirmed, her breath becoming nonexistent, as she closed her eyes, all she heard was Ruby's voice. 

"Weiss! Come on! The cookies are getting cold!"

"Coming Ruby." Weiss said, and her eyes shut close, and Ruby screeched, the sound echoing throughout the forest as she swung downward with her scythe. It never met with Weiss' neck. It met with a huge blast of sand. The creature turned, only to be met with the sharp end of a scimitar, slicing across her body and causing her to scream. It found its new target, but it found it too late when it reached her head. Jackal's hand was compressed of sand, solidified to the point of feeling like concrete when he decked Ruby in the face. Ruby tumbled, but not before the target continued its repeated bashing. Over and over again, punch after punch, tear drop after tear drop falling from Jackal's face until Ruby stopped moving. Her form retracted to her normal self, and Jackal stood over her body and firmly kicked her head in a fit of rage. 

"I know you're better than this..." Jackal said as he took some sand and placed it on Ruby' face. "شفى" And in a flash, Ruby's injuries were gone. But the mental scarring, the hurt she has done to her friends, still lingers. "If any of you would be so kind as to gather everyone else, I shall provide transportation towards Beacon." Kokichi and Saxton nodded and quickly grouped everyone up, and Jackal, using the sand in his pocket and the dirt that surrounded him, created wonders of gold, wonders that only a God could create, or so he believed. 


	14. Arrival

Ozpin looked towards the forest and wiped his glasses for the third time. He couldn't even believe what he had seen sprouting from the forests, and neither could the other students. It had happened so suddenly, it started off with some bangs and crashes, usual forest sounds. But then it crumbled down to screams and unintelligible sounds foreign to every being in the school. Ozpin, however, saw as much as he had heard. While children were so distracted by the noise, Ozpin saw sand. He saw some sand spurt up from where the noise was coming from, which confused him. He was in amazement as to what had just occurred, so much so he even checked his hot cocoa to make sure it wasn't spiked with anything. But he saw right, he saw the sand and now he was seeing the results of a certain team RWBY's broken window and a crater right below. Ozpin sighed, but not nearly as hard as Glynda, who was right next to him investigating the same crater. "These kids are really going out of control aren't they Glynda?"

Glynda shook her head "Completely! I wouldn't consider a crater in the ground 'under control' Mr. Ozpin." 

Ozpin couldn't help but give out a small giggle "But they are getting better with their craft." 

Glynda, reluctantly, nodded in agreement. Although she would distain the idea of chaos somehow equaling progress, she did have to give credit where it was due. After a few moments, policemen began to leave the area, and Glynda used her semblance to repair the crater, turning it back to a nice, smooth walkway. "Now if you excuse me, I have a window to repair." She began walking away, and all Ozpin could do was stare at the empty spot that used to contain the crater. 

The children were getting stronger, that was an undeniable fact, but were they getting stronger fast enough was the big question on his mind. The sand, the cries of creatures, could they be Grimm? Or worse, judging by the sand, could they be migrating Grimm from Vacuo? As ridiculous as that sounded, it was a possibility, and a very terrifying possibility at that. He could only guess at this point, but his fears were somewhat realized when he saw a very distressed robot running out from the forest, looking around frantically until its eyes landed onto him. The robot quickly ran up to Ozpin, as his curiosity grew more and more at this thing running towards him. "O-Ozpin! We need your help! M-my friends are in danger! Ruby is in danger!"

Ozpin didn't hesitate, and began walking towards the forest "Lead the way." 

"R-right!" B.D stated, and ran in front of Ozpin. But they only got so far, maybe a few yards from the forest entrance, when they were stopped. Not by a hand or weapon, but by a trumpet blast. B.D stopped dead in his tracks, and Ozpin stopped as well when a second trumpet blast occurred. None of them could figure out where they were coming from, but the third blast gave it away; they were coming from the forest. Ozpin and B.D couldn't believe in hearing trumpet blasts from the forest, but they thought they completely lost it when they heard drums, followed by...sand.

B.D quivered where he stood "Stand back." was all B.D could advise, and Ozpin quickly caught that advice and began walking backwards. The students of Beacon could hear it only if they were close enough to the forest at first, but the longer they waited, the louder the sound erupted. Soon Ozpin and B.D were back at the entrance, and from the walkway emerged something very unfamiliar to Ozpin, and something very nerve racking to B.D. A mummy, wrapped tight in its bandages walked to the front of the walkway holding drums. It looked at the 2 figures at the other end of the walkway and began playing. Slowly and quietly at first, then it gradually grew louder and faster, until trumpets met with its tempo, and from the forest emerged more mummies, with bandages tightly wrapped amongst them and holding trumpets, and then some holding trays filled with gold coins and treasures, and a few more following closely to the other's sides, holding scimitars. Ozpin couldn't even register what was happening, and B.D was getting a terrible feeling inside. Soon, it came. At first, it was 4 mummies holding nothing, limping along the walkway. But once the ones holding the treasures had taken their place near the edge of the walkway, once the ones with scimitars placed themselves next to them, and once the ones with instruments had found themselves in between the 2, sand began to emerge, sand and dirt rising from the smooth walkway every student walked to and from the town across from Beacon, that same dirt was rising and forming something unrecognizable. From behind them, 4 more mummies emerged, but this time they were holding a box, a large box covered in gold, and concealing something behind purple drapes. Soon, another 4 mummies emerged, holding the exact same thing. Students began to gather and rumor amongst themselves, and Glynda, having seen the entire thing from Ruby's window, dashed down from the dorms to get a closer look at the spectacle. The sand and dirt continued rising until it looked just like the 2 boxes behind it, only it was made purely of dirt and there was a lack of drapes, as well as it was much, MUCH bigger than the other 2, so much so Ozpin was surprise the 4...things, could carry it. But soon, it began glowing, then it shone, and then it's dirt and sand turned to gold, turned to handles for the mummies to carry such a divine relic, and soon the sand and dirt turned into a young teen, smiling at the top with as big of an ego as the relic he sat upon. 2 cobras constantly slithered around him, and he looked down from his relic to see B.D quivering where he stood, and a young green thing with glasses and a young woman who he might've mistaken for some hour-glass fashion designer he would immediately get annoyed by, only to recognize her face after a moment more of looking. He looked down at his 2 snakes, and they hissed with delight "It's been so long since we've been out. Behave yourselves ok?" Jackal advised. Soon the mummies stopped, mere inches from Ozpin's position, then they looked up in unison, and then began to droop, turning back into sand and dirt, lowering the relic farther and farther down, the instruments playing triumphantly. The young Egyptian teen's snakes slithered up his legs and hid away in the basket he kept to his side as he was carefully placed onto the ground, and the mummies who had instruments stopped playing, the ones with treasures walked forward and stopped right behind the teen and the ones holding the boxes kneeled. The teen looked towards the green figure in front of him, who was a few inches taller than him, but he knew he could manage. He stood before the headmaster and gave a graceful bow. "Greetings." The teen spoke finally, with an old, raspy voice, which caught the headmaster off guard as well as the headmistress, but Ozpin quickly responded.

"Greetings to you as well, Mr.?"

The teen gave out a dry laugh "No need to worry yourself with honorifics, just Jackal will do nicely Mr. Ozpin, and splendid day to you too Ms. Glynda." Jackal looked behind him and smiled at his work. "Please do forgive me for my sudden intrusion, but I really had to come and see you for myself. I decided against sending a formal letter when I came to the conclusion that this was a much better way of getting your attention."

Glynda was taken aback, both by the fact this random teen knew her name but also by how calm Ozpin was about this whole thing. "How on Remnant are you so calm about this? Are you not seeing what's happening around you Mr. Ozpin!?" 

"I'm sure it's fine, he seems like a nice fellow." All Glynda could do was cover her face in shame, shame that she's working with this lunatic next to her. Ozpin smiled and then reached out a hand, to which Jackal, very carefully, shook. Ozpin's hand was soft and smooth, like fresh sand, which worked especially well for handshakes, but Jackal's hand felt coarse, rough, like the sand he felt so connected to. "Judging by your clothes and spectacle, I assume you're from Vacuo?"

Once again, Jackal gave a heart felt, dry as a desert laugh "I plan to explore that place someday. I'm not from here, but by judging that a certain...Machine is here, you should have an idea as to guess where I'm from."

B.D quivered behind Glynda, and Ozpin's eyes widened "So you're one of the universe jumpers? My students have been talking about you, and judging by your machine's reaction, I assume you're their leader?"

"Correct. You are very observant Mr. Ozpin. But I come not to praise you, far from it. I would leave that to your students, which I come with 8 of them."

"MR. OZPIN!" Shouted someone from behind the drapes from the front box. A watery teen poked out and ran towards the headmaster and stumbled, tears beginning to form. "Ms. Ruby's hurt! I'm so sorry, it was our fault, we shouldn't have done this we just wanted her to be able to defend herself from-" 

Jackal quickly formed a staff from the ground's dirt and shushed Cris with it swiftly. He then turned to see Kokichi coming out from the back box and rushing to get to the next one, carrying some medical supplies, provided by Jackal, along with Saxton. Jackal sighed and then looked back at Ozpin "We have much to discuss. Follow." Jackal insisted, leading Cris, Ozpin, B.D and Glynda towards the boxes and pulled open the drapes of the front box, revealing team JNPR In shambles. Jaune was fast asleep, Ren meditating, Pyrrha in a corner by herself, and Nora cuddled next to Ren as Kokichi and Saxton tended to their wounds. 

Kokichi looked towards Ozpin and nodded "They'll be fine, I assure you. Team RWBY on the other hand..."

Jackal closed the drapes and guided Ozpin towards the back box and opened the drapes, revealing Blake with a cast on her left arm while Yang looked towards Ozpin. She then looked towards and guided Ozpin's eyes towards Ruby, who laid on the floor of the box, completely knocked out, her clothes torn and ripped everywhere. Ozpin then found a small ink thing inside a jar, attempting to rise out of it, only for it to give out a groan and fall back into the jar. Ozpin was confused at first, and seeing the water boy jump into the box quietly and tend to a scarecrow's wound by gluing some wooden piece of his body back together did not help. Finally, Ozpin witnessed Weiss clumped into a ball, staring down some smoke thing whispering into her ear as it smiles and stares into her eyes. Jackal then closed the drapes and looked towards Ozpin "So...Any questions?"

Ozpin took only a moment to ponder and collect his thoughts. "How did this happen?"

"Thanks to our divine intervention of course. Jack-o, the scarecrow, had created a neat little pathogen to make your student stronger, and I must say, I'm quite pleased with the results. Not a Grimm in sight when she was finished with them, but of course it has a few bugs to it."

Glynda had heard enough, and readied her weapon. "You dare come onto our school grounds and harm our students by spreading a PATHOGEN of all things, and then expect to leave without proper punishment?!"

Jackal looked towards Glynda, unamused at her worry. "Ms. Glynda, by any chance do you have an ethics committee?"

Glynda was confused. "Well, yes, we do."

"I see, and, just to clarify, would you consider it unethical to not give these children medical attention to their injuries?"

"What?! Of course! These children need medical attention, but-"

"WONDERFUL! Then it's settled. Glad we could come to an agreement, Ms. Glynda-" Glynda quickly gave a quick slap onto Jackal's hand with her weapon, rage building up.

"This is nonsensical! You will explain what is going on, or i'll-"

"Glynda. Please." Ozpin asked politely. "Can you explain to us exactly what you were planning with this pathogen?"

"This would allow her to transform into a mythical creature known as the Eldritch, a powerful being with strength beyond comprehension, and she wiped the forest clean of Grimm. By infusing dust with the pathogen, we could wipe this whole realm clean from Grimm and your troubles will be nonexistent. Although, there are still some kinks to it that must be worked on. Does that answer your question?"

"I may have more, but that will do for now, thank you." 

"Thank you, nice to see some calm and nice professionalism in Vale." Jackal gave a glare towards Glynda, who was covering her face in shame, both for her outburst and Ozpin's handling of the situation. "Cris, B.D. Please keep an eye on every member, but I want Ruby to myself. I would like to monitor her well being personally."

Cris looked confused "But wouldn't it be better for Jack-o to monitor-"

"No. No it wouldn't. It's more logical, yes. But something about her caught my attention" Jackal then leaned into Cris and began to whisper "Considering the fact she turned into an eldritch beast and who is the most knowledgeable about the subject and is a deity of high regard to the kind? This guy right here." He stated, pointing towards himself. Cris gulped and nodded his head, and Jackal gave a soft smile. He then looked back towards the golden boxes behind him. "نسير إلى الأمام ، ويتبع ذلك عهد جديد." And the mummies moved towards Beacon as Jackal then looked back towards Glynda and Ozpin. "Please follow us. Allow me to explain everything to you 2."

/////

Ruby laid upon her bed, and Jackal looked towards his fellow teammates, who had waited for further instructions. "I shall heal her, do not worry. I shall study and expand our knowledge on this brand new finding. As for the rest of you, try and reassure our new friend Ozpin that his students are perfectly safe and secured. I shall lock this door behind me as to avoid unwanted company. Remember: Socially distance all those who fought her, including yourselves. We may have damn good immune systems, but that doesn't mean we are immune to spreading it accidentally. Understood?" And the remaining members gave a firm nod and left, and Jackal locked the door behind him, then turned to see Ruby laying on her bed and smiled. After confirming that he was completely alone, he turned back towards Ruby and pulled out some sand from his pocket. "So...here we are again...How are you holding up?" Silence filled the room. "So, Uhh...The true Goddess had told me everything about the beauty of the silver-eyed warriors, and it was such a wonderful story. I told her who I knew was a silver-eyed warrior, and she beamed with curiosity at my knowledge of this universe. She considered it a divine gift for me to be so intelligent. But you and I know very well how much of a curse it is." Jackal began walking towards Ruby, forming the sand he took out into a scimitar "27 years I have waited for this moment. 27 years have I mentally prepared for what must be done. And even still, despite all this time it feels like a dream that..." Jackal paused, then looked in front of him. "This place could use some drapes." Jackal then took more sand and turned them into some drapes and placed them in front of the window, concealing himself from the world. "Look, I know it has to be done and all, but I just...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, I'm sorry for what happened to you 27 years ago, and most of all..." Jackal clenched his teeth at the thought, then took a swipe at Ruby's cheek, blood slowly spilling from the new cut Jackal gave her. "I'm so undeniably sorry for everything I did to you. I was so stupid back then, to think you would understand, when I needed to understand you. You ran so far away I was afraid you killed yourself, or ran away with her to somewhere I wouldn't be able to find you. I...I can't lose you...not again, not like that. So I'm here to make it all right. " Jackal moved up to her chest, then he hovered the scimitar above her heart. "With Salem's plan, the universe will restart, painted with our image of paradise for humanity. Maybe then would you forgive me..." Jackal hesitated, giving one final look towards Ruby's face. A tear fell from his cheek, and after he shook his head and closed his eyes, he gave one final thrust and plunged the scimitar into Ruby's heart. Jackal took a deep breath and quivered where he stood. "I...I'm so sorry...It's all my fault." Jackal began to cry, still holding onto the scimitar. He had done it, he did what he had promised, and yet it was harder than he originally thought. Not physically more difficult, but emotionally. He had waited too long to put down the lost soul that was Ruby for both her's and his sake. He got up slowly and pulled out the scimitar and wiped his tears. He sat next to her and reflected. "I'm so sorry for everything, for everything I did to you, for how the creation God took you away from me, that worthless, incompetent, oversized pile of space dust! But now..." Jackal rubbed Ruby's cheek, feeling the softness while his rough hands held on as soft as they could. "Now it's over. I had returned, just as I promised, and you are...Wait a minute...WHAT THE-?!" Jackal stopped himself, and stared at the body of Ruby. Jackal turned his scimitar back into sand and placed it back into his pocket. Jackal turned away and sat in silence, analyzing the mortal in front of him. "By the Gods...C-could it be?!" It had been too long since he had met someone that had his power of immortality. Too long had he seen someone who had the power to heal any wound inflicted upon themselves. He had met Salem, yes, but that was because she was a God, like him. But now...Jackal's eyes began to tear up once more. Some memories, it seems, just refuse to die. 


	15. يوم القيامة الجزء 1

"And now...Awaken." Joy made his smokey hand more dense and snapped his fingers, and Weiss' eyes slowly opened as she eyed the smokey hypnotist in front of her. "How are you feeling so far?" 

Weiss answered quietly "G-good". The voice was weak, and so quiet in fact that Joy had to lean in close to catch what she had said. 

"Did you get a good sleep last night?"

"I think I got around...5 hours?" 

Joy sighed "At least that's better than 2 nights ago. I'm glad to see the progress we've made so far. By any chance do you have any questions for me?" Weiss was about to ask one, but then quickly shunned away from Joy. "Go on, you can ask me anything. I shall not judge, you have my promise." 

Weiss looked towards Joy, and after a moment of contemplation, she finally spoke "C-can I see her?"

Joy paused for a moment. It had been 3 days since they started their therapy sessions ever since their fight with Ruby, but Weiss seemed to be recovering well so far. But to risk losing all that progress? Or, perhaps..."Let me ask Jackal." With that, Joy left the room, and Weiss looked towards the ceiling, leaning back into her seat.

She had tried many a time to put the pieces together, to understand what had just happened between her and Ruby, what that thing was that Ruby became, what had happened that day. But every time she tried she'd end up in her bed at night, while Ruby was sent with Ozpin and Jackal to train and sleep elsewhere, and all Weiss could do was cry, both because of what she had seen and what might become of her love. She had almost begun crying again, until Jackal walked into the room. "She's functional. You may see her."

Weiss quickly got up from her chair and followed both Joy and Jackal to the training grounds, where they witnessed Ruby's training under Ozpin. Weiss quickly ran over to her and began shouting Ruby's name, and Ruby turned to face Weiss, only to get tackled by her, leaving the 2 in a small, tight pile of cuddling, kissing, and tears. Jackal stared at the cuddling happening below, and Joy chuckled to himself "What's wrong? Never seen love before oh glorious God of the cosmos?"

Jackal scoffed "2 things: 1.) I have read more love stories and seen them first hand than the number of days you've existed so far and 2.) It's complicated and NO, I will not go into detail."

"Seems someone has a crush on someone and is jealous…"

"I'm actually proud for them." Jackal looked towards Joy, who was giving him an unconvinced look. "WHAT? Just because I don't like people doesn't mean I'm a homophobe! Trust me, I'm gay rights all the way and all that stuff, it's just...oh forget it." 

Joy giggled, then looked towards the couple as Ozpin began his walk towards both him and Jackal. Ruby was continually apologizing for what she had done, and Weiss crying and just happy to see Ruby is ok, as is Ruby is glad to see Weiss in a good condition. Ozpin, after finally reaching the 2, looked back towards the huntresses and smiled. "You 2 seemed to be talking up a storm over here."

Jackal simply stared at the 2 mortals in front of him laughing and playing, then turned to Ozpin. "Mr. Ozpin, if I may add my 2 and a half lien into this problem, we haven't even scratched the surface with her training. I sense a much more powerful form of her's below that red hoodie. But the progress thus far has given me very disappointing results, as not only has she not been able to achieve this form, but considering last time, she lost control. What needs to be done is to strengthen her soul." Jackal stated.

Ozpin looked confused. "How do we strengthen someone's soul?"

Jackal was about to answer, but then stopped himself and pondered for a bit. "It's...how do I..? Ok, so, a long time ago, I learned of the beauty and potential of the soul. Since I was completely intrigued by the subject, I scoured for knowledge on the subject with the guidance from the elder ones."

"The elder ones?"

"4 space monsters that control destiny itself, not a very complicated concept but going into detail tends to drive people mad."

"I can almost see why."

"Moving on, throughout my search, I have learned of people using the soul to connect with their higher beings, these elder ones to gain an inkling of their vast power. Basically, the elder ones connect to the creation gods, the creation gods connect to the universes they create, the universes they create are connected to each and every mortal's soul, which is connected to your mind, which is what gives you feeling and function." 

Joy looked even more confused. "That was almost the complete opposite of basic!"

Jackal facepalmed himself. "Look, the point is, by strengthening her soul we can allow her to tap into her true power, the eldritch evolution would be an incredible strength and a deadly aggression to the Grimm."

Ozpin stood pondering. "But isn't this eldritch evolution a pathogen? How is strengthening the soul giving her more control over a disease?"

"Because the disease isn't only affecting the body and it's cells. It affects the soul. The pathogen is like a carrier, while the real disease is the evolution. It messes with the reality of the soul and warps it, thus since it's connected to the mind, it causes the mind to lose itself and has the potential to go mad, which would explain what happened before. Along with that, due to the soul getting warped, her reality is warped, and thus her physical form is warped as well, and thus...Eldritch monstrosity."

"And this all means...?"

"To better gain a grasp of her power and prevent her from going mad, we need to do what helps connect these people to their universe, and throughout these months I have successfully figured out what those things are: Determination and fighting. By combining these 2 aspects, the soul actually grows stronger, and with strength comes many benefits."

"So when her soul strengthens, not only would she be stronger as a person but also be able to use her power with complete control, without going insane." 

"Precisely! I suggest that we attempt a different form of training to finally let her achieve more power and hopefully be able to erase the Grimm once and for all!" 

Ozpin looked towards Jackal and raised a brow "And did you have anything in mind for this 'different form of training' ?" 

"A sparing match. Me and Ruby." 

Ozpin then looked towards Ruby, who was cuddling softly with Weiss, as Weiss looked towards Ozpin, wondering what might be going through their heads. Ozpin then turned back at the 2 universe jumpers behind him and smiled. "Very well, I see no reason why not. Besides, I wasn't present for the first training match students went wild over for a week, so I'll be more than happy to attend such an event." 

Joy was now exasperated "Ugh...This is not going to end well, I can already tell." 

Jackal was more than pleased with the response he achieved "Splendid. Joy, go inform Doctor Oobleck that there will be another training session today, and I shall go and inform Kokichi and the others." Jackal smiled and began walking away, pulling out his jumper ring and pondering his next move. He tossed his ring and informed Kokichi and Saxton, and when they left, he offered to stay and practice a bit of his fighting. He quickly ran and grabbed his box of tarot cards and shuffled quickly, placing his hand on the deck, but he realized he didn't know how to word his question. What question was deemed good enough? What exactly did he want to know, and why was he so worried? He began to ponder the questions In his head. _Will Ruby be ok? No, the deck cannot answer yes or no questions. What would the students think of the fight? No, that's not important. Will Salem watch and if so, what will she think? No, this isn't about her, this is about..._ Jackal finally found his question, shuffled, and placed the 3 cards in front of himself. Past...Present...Future. He flipped over the first one, which showed V - The Hierophant, right-side up. The memories flowed through, and Jackal almost shed a tear, but quickly looked for the second card, which was VI - The Lovers, right-side up. Jackal pondered this, then carefully flipped over the last card, then he dropped it in shock. "T-the tower?!" The card fell to the ground, and there it laid. XVI - The Tower, right-side up.

/////

The students, much like last time, were buzzing about when they had learned of another fight being approved by Oobleck, and this time they were especially hyped when they learned that Headmaster Ozpin of all people approved it as well, and would be attending along with the students. But as well as last time, Zim was once again forced by Saxton to take notes and turn it in to Oobleck by the end of the day. But despite this, Zim was still excited for the fight, almost as excited as Ruby, who was jumping with energy as the rest of her team and JNPR sat in their seats, afraid as to what might come. They were allowed to watch the fight as well, as long as they stayed socially distant enough from the other students and stayed in their special spot. But that did very little to stop Ruby's excitement. 

"Holy moly I'm so pumped! This is what you must've felt your time with Kokichi, huh Yang? He's going to be like WAP WAP WAP! And then i'm going to SWOOOSH around him and be all like PEW PEW PEW!!" 

Weiss, although glad to see Ruby as her usual self, was still very afraid of what might happen. "R-Ruby?"

"And then he'll probably say something along the lines of 'You foolish mortal! I, Jackal, shall now defeat you using my special technique.' And then Weiss would say something like 'Oh no! Not the special technique!' "

"Ruby?"

"And then I shall stand valiantly with Crescent Rose and I'll say 'Do not worry my love, for I shall defeat Jackal and then we shall celebrate by heading on over to the town and we can stuff our faces with as much food stuffs as we want!' "

"RUBY."

"And then he'll be like 'H-how is this possible?! How could a weak mortal like you beat someone as epic as me?!'. And then I'll say 'With the power of friendship of course!', and there will be fireworks and people cheering, and you'll come up on stage and be all like 'You did it Ruby!'. And I'll be like 'Anything for you my frosty lover.' "

"RUBY ROSE!!" 

"Y-yes?!" 

Weiss quickly calmed herself and gave Ruby a tight hug, and Ruby softly hugged Weiss back. "Promise me you'll be safe in there. And please, for the love of whatever god is out there, don't call me 'frosty lover' on stage ok?"

Ruby hugged Weiss tighter "I promise with all my heart my little snowcone."

"NO."

"Snow bro?"

"NO."

"My adorable Schnee-Machine?"

"PLEASE STOP." And with a small chortle from Weiss and a grand laugh from Ruby, the 2 departed, with a few more cheers from behind them.

"YEAH!! THAT'S MY LIL' SIS!" Yang shouted "GO KICK HIS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSTRONOMICALLY DUMB FACE IN!!" 

"Punch him in the gut." Blake advised.

"Remember to have fun. Actually, ignore that advice that's...terrible cause you're fighting...a real person and...Stupid Jaune." Jaune said, slowly lowering his head on the table as Pyrrha patted his back in reassurance.

"What Jaune means to say is to fight with all you got, but remember that you're still friends at the end." Pyrrha reassured.

"Remember to keep your mind in the clear, and never let anger guide your judgement." Ren advised.

"But do let that anger guide your FISTS!!" Nora exclaimed.

"I'll try. Thanks guys." Ruby says, walking towards the stage, while Jackal watched from afar. 

Jackal remained silent as he continued to watch Ruby head for the stage. He couldn't let his findings with the cards escape his mind. _The tower...What does it mean? What could it possibly-_

"J A C K A L! ! !"

"HOLY MOTHER OF-" Jackal screamed, before gathering himself angrily. "JACK! ISIC! THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!

Isic slowly, and rigidly, moved towards a seat. "We're here to watch Y O U. We're so excited to see our D e A r friend compete."

Jack giggled, although it was mostly just static. "Y Y YEAH! We can't wait to see J A c K A l prove to R u b Y that he's the true J A C K - o f - A L trades!" And they both lost it, laughing their butts off, while Kokichi quickly muted them, catching both of them off guard. All 10 of the universe jumpers had decided to attend this fight, while Ozpin was interviewing each of them one by one to better understand who these people are. However, despite the kindness and generosity, if you can call it that, Jackal still despised the fact that of all people to show up, the idiotic robot and his equally annoying puppet just had to be the one's to cheer him on. Honestly, he rather hang out with the mortals than the robot, because at least he would feel like he's around some form of intelligence. 

Jackal quickly got up and left for the stage, making sure he had all his essentials. Basket, snakes, snakes in basket, basket next to him, with snakes, in basket, basket filled with snakes, which are in the basket,...And sand. Yep, that's everything. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Doctor Oobleck shouted with enthusiasm. 

"And those of you still making up your minds!" Chimed in Zim.

"Ah! Of course, we here at Beacon support anyone and anything, as long as they have the drive to learn!" Oobleck responded.

"And no matter who you are, today seems like a perfect day to learn! Such a nice day, with the birds chirping, the wind calm, and the sun covered by the clouds for nice shade! Perfect day to stay indoors and watch 2 people beat the crap out each other!"

Ruby and Jackal reached the stage, and Ruby held out a hand for a shake "Good luck!"

Jackal looked towards her hand and very carefully gave it an extremely awkward shake.

Ruby giggled. "Not very used to handshakes, huh?"

Jackal gave a defeated smile. "When you're stuck with 9 other nimrods and one of them loves to shake REALLY hard with handshakes, you tend to stop loving them as much."

Zim broke their handshake and formed his clothes to that of a boxing referee with a big cigar in his mouth. "Alright! I want a nice, clean fight! Because last time someone ended up in a coma and that was not fun to deal with at all! Weapons ready!"

Ruby readied her Crescent Rose, while Jackal stood still, analyzing Ruby. 

"3!" Zim began, team RWBY and JNPR already cheering for Ruby.

"2!" Oobleck continued, getting out of the way and activating the barrier. 

"1!" _Ok Ruby. Show me what you got_ _!_

"GO!!" Ruby dashed quickly towards Jackal, catching him off guard, but he was still quick enough to dodge her scythe swing. He had done as much research as possible to better understand Ruby, so he expected a quick paced fight. But something about Ruby seemed faster than he anticipated. Ruby pulled the trigger and a sniper round fired, slicing through Jackal's clothes. Ruby, now pumped up and full of speed, swung upwards, slicing Jackal's clothes, which made the crowd go wild. Ruby kept the pressure going, slicing and dicing, leaving Jackal no room to breathe. But Jackal had enough, and quickly pulled out some sand and blasted Ruby away, giving both Ruby and himself some breathing room. 

Jackal inspected the tears on his clothes and scoffed "Nicely done Ruby, you've given me torn clothes, but absolutely no cuts."

Ruby smirked "Well you haven't given me anything thus far, so looks like I'm winning!" 

Jackal smirked "Just like old times..." Jackal pulled out some sand and tossed it into a straight line. But the sand hovered mid air, before Jackal clapped his hands together, and the sand combined and formed a scimitar, giving a blue and orange glow to It. "Behold! A weapon only a God can wield!" Jackal sliced the blade downwards, blue flames leaving a trail, and the students cheering. "Wow, now I see why you guys want to do this more often. The adrenaline is crazy. But anyways, enough about the audience, I believe we have a...Ruby?" 

Ruby was bouncing up and down with a dumb grin on her face, like a kid in a candy store who just spend their entire allowance on the most sugar filled candy in the store. "OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO COOL!! DID YOU SEE THAT WEISS?!?!" Ruby shouted, pointing at Jackal and Weiss hiding under the desk in embarrassment.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come over here and cheer on your girlfriend, who might point you out. _At least she didn't call me her frosty lover._

"Ok, boasting times over." Jackal quickly lunged, using some sand as spikes and sending them Ruby's way, who was quick to react and dodge, but not quick enough to dodge Jackal's scimitar. With a slice and a kick, Ruby was thrown across the stage and she caught herself quickly before she could crash into the barrier. Thank goodness for auras. "Consider that a reality check, Ruby Rose. Now consider this my step towards victory!" Jackal shouted, charging towards Ruby Rose, as she readies her weapon and begins firing sniper round after sniper round at the charging Egyptian. Jackal moved swiftly, dodging every sniper round fired at him until he finally reached his target, and swiped with his scimitar, only for Ruby to use her semblance and dodge the incoming attack, leaving Jackal behind in his own dust. The fight had now degraded into Jackal attempting to catch up with Ruby Rose, as Ruby seems to continually have fun with messing around. 

Ozpin, having interviewed Saxton, was amazed at Jackal's power and speed, but was extremely curious about everything else about him. "That Jackal fellow" He began "He seems powerful. And his ability is..."

Saxton looked towards the fight and sighed "You'd think that his ego would get him killed by now, but he's much more powerful than any of us combined."

"Incredible. Where did he get such power?"

Saxton shivered in his spot. "He earned it by random chance, from Gods of old. He earned their power to protect his old home, before it was destroyed. Now, he travels around the multiverse, helping people whenever he gets the chance." 

"Wait, from Gods?! Are you saying that-"

"Jackal is miles ahead of your student. He's a God from another universe with powers far beyond ours. Without him, we wouldn't have ever come together as a group of 10. Your student, although agile, quick, and deadly in strength and reflexes, she cannot even hope to hold a candle to Jackal's strength." Ozpin began to become a worrying mess in his seat. He had unknowingly sent one of his students to face off against a God from another world, but he was so eager to see Ruby fight against the universe jumpers he overlooked interviewing Jackal. Jackal was so introverted, kept most things to himself, and now that Ozpin knows the truth, it was surely a deadly one. "Or rather, that was originally the case. But look at Ruby now." Ozpin looked back at the fight, seeing Ruby successfully defending herself from all of Jackal's attacks. "She's keeping up with him. Not a single one of us could ever match to his strength and yet Ruby is doing it on her first try!" Ozpin could see Ruby and Jackal getting more and more serious as the fight went on, as each one attempting to best the other. 

"How curious." Was all he could manage to say.

But suddenly, Ruby stopped, and Jackal had grown tired. "Ok, think Jackal. How to kill a mockingbird that's going hundreds of miles per hour? Cause honestly, not a big fan of this anymore!" Jackal complained to Ruby jokingly. Ruby finally looked at Jackal in his eyes, her silver eyes giving a soft shine. She held a hand over her mouth, groaning. "Ruby? Are you alright?"

Ruby tried laughing it off. "Oh, me?! I'm doing great, I'm perfectly fine!" 

Jackal looked concerned, and then he went wide eyed. "Ruby...your nose..."

"Heh, what about..." Ruby placed her hand on her nose, felt something wet, and pulled away. Black blood covered her finger. "No...NO PLEASE NOT AGAIN!!" Ruby then gave a genuinely scared look, which threw both Weiss and Jackal off guard.

 _The tower!_ He quickly grabbed his scimitar and ran for Ruby. But Ruby was quicker, using her semblance and dashing towards Jackal and trying to stab him with her scythe. But Jackal quickly blocked every attack, until finally getting one stab into her.

"RUBY!" Weiss shouted as she charged for the barrier. Yang was too much in shock to do anything, Blake was having flashbacks to last time, and JNPR sat in their seats in total shock.

Ruby trembled, holding her wound with her one hand and covering her mouth with the other. Jackal stood still "Fight...please, just fight through it..." The wound slowly healed itself to everyone's surprise. "Black...Blood?" Jackal saw the blood on Ruby's hand. He looked up, and saw the silver, dead stare into his soul. Ruby gave out a scream, and Jackal dodged quickly, avoiding Ruby's scythe, but it wasn't all there. Half of it was In Ruby's right hand, or rather what was Ruby's hand, which had melted away onto the scythe like melting wax from a candle. Ruby charged, and Jackal quickly dodged the incoming flame protruding from Ruby's stomach, all while Ruby was groaning from the pain, all while team RWBY and JNPR and all of the other classmates watched in shock to the events unfolding in front of them, all while Weiss stood at the barrier, watching the love of her life transform in front of her, tears falling down as memories of what had happened 3 days ago began to flood inwards. Ruby began to stand up, her scythe disappearing into her arm, her stomach giving out an unintelligible scream as flames began to continually spew from it's many holes that protruded from the cocoon that surrounded what once was Ruby's spine, teeth sticking out from the top and bottom of the crevice that no longer holds a stomach or other unnecessary organs, but only a furnace now, and 2 pairs of eyes to go along the top and bottom teeth to form a gaping maw of flames and heat. Ruby's legs began to squirm like jelly, until with a grunt, Ruby's left leg had made a loud snapping sound, and soon her right had followed, and both had split into 4, leaving Ruby 8 tentacles as replacement for 2 legs. Finally, with pant after pant following her transformation, Ruby turned to see Weiss stare at Ruby with tears falling. Ruby slowly inched closer towards the barrier, reaching out 1 of her 2 right hands to touch the barrier, and Weiss stood back a bit. 

"R-Ruby?" Weiss asked, and she slowly reached out and placed her hand on top of Ruby's, and the Eldritch Ruby looked towards Weiss and gave a weak smile. 

But the smile didn't last long, as Ruby grunted and jerked sideways, her eyes landing on Jackal. "Her soul...It's actually trying to fight back." 

Ruby slammed herself against the barrier and weakly looked towards Weiss and smiled "Weiss...If the worse happens, please take care of everyone, ok?" the voice sounded distorted, like it didn't belong to Ruby. 

"W-WAIT RUBY, WH-WHAT DOES THAT-" 

But Ruby had turned back towards Jackal and screamed, her mouths opening up, while her lower one spewed fire around her in a wildfire spectacle, her top mouth had split open slightly to release a high pitched, cosmic scream that had pierced everyone's ears, leaving almost everyone temporarily deaf. All except some robots, a skeleton, and Jackal, who had covered his ears with some sand, and once he dropped the sand he rubbed his ears slightly "If you desire a fight, then so be it!!!" Jackal grabbed the remaining sand in his pocket and tossed it everywhere, causing a sandstorm inside the barrier.

Weiss was conflicted and scared. "We can't just leave them in there! they've gone insane!"

Yang got up and ran for the switch. "Lower the barrier, we've got to save my sister before..." The switch was gone. Not even Oobleck knew where it had gone. The switch was missing, as well as...

Zim smiled at the top of the staircase leading into the classroom, playfully screwing around with the broken handle of the switch. "Oops. Looks like the show must go on. How very unfortunate for us I suppose." 

"GET HIM!" One of the students demanded, but Zim was much too slippery and laughed all the way as he dodged every student's attempt to grab him.

"Come on Ruby...Show yourself." Jackal carefully listened through the harsh winds of the sand that surrounded him. Time and time again he hard the sound of Ruby bashing into something blindly, screeching her demonic screech as she tried to see through the harsh winds. Jackal hoped that she would get tired of running around and stop, allowing Jackal to quickly put an end to this fight. But suddenly, he heard a noise and quickly readied himself to counter-attack. But Ruby was much too quick, getting behind Jackal and, like an unforgettable nightmare, slithered and screamed as she charged at him, slicing his side as he gave a painfilled scream. He tried to shrug it off, but the feeling wouldn't leave, as he looked towards his wound. It slowly healed, much too slowly for Jackal's liking. "The dust...it's slowing down my healing..."

"J A C K A L!!" Ruby's voice distorted it's way through the sand, causing Jackal to quiver where he stood. Time and time again, Jackal attempted to counter her every strike, but every time Ruby had the upper hand. She was just too fast for him. He'd dodge her attacks sometimes, and others he would feel the pain and the rush of blood trickling down his leg, arm, and face. 

"RUBY!" Some coughs escaped his mouth, and he looked everywhere for Ruby. He slumped down to the sand, weak from the constant cuts from all angles and sides. He looked outward at the sand as it began to die down, and Ruby looked towards Jackal's weak body and gave a small screech. 

"Jackal! You might wanna finish quickly in there! I can't dodge them forever!" And he was right, when Yang caught him by the throat. 

"I'M NOT LETTING HER GET KILLED IN THERE! IF NO ONE GOING TO OPEN IT THEN I'LL JUST-" But Yang was stopped. Not by a hand or by a word, but by some ice that caught her leg. "Weiss?! What the hell are you doing?! Ruby is going to get killed in there!" 

Weiss, shaking in place as she dropped her weapon, looked back at the fight. Ruby was inching closer towards Jackal, readying her scythe and bringing it down upon him. But it never connected with his body, as he quickly dodged and stabbed her scythe-arm with his scimitar as she gave a scream as he overpowered her. Weiss could see his eyes, a desperate look, not of killing, but of worry. "No...She won't." 

"RUBY ROSE!!" Jackal shouted, continuing to attack her from the front. "Please!! Come to your senses!" Ruby caught him off guard, grabbing him and shoving him into the wall. Ruby gave one final scream as she readied her scythe. Jackal squirmed within Ruby's tight grasp. "Ruby, please snap out of it! Don't make me do this!" But the creature didn't respond, but rather lunged backwards and began to lunge forward, plunging the scythe into Jackal's heart. But it never reached Jackal. He quickly grabbed his scimitar and plunged it into her chest, black blood spilling onto the blade. The creature screamed, letting go of Jackal and dropping him to the ground. The creature continued to jerk and wail, fire spewing everywhere. Jackal quickly grabbed some sand and ran towards Ruby, who was ready to burn Jackal to a crisp, if it weren't for the fact Jackal threw the sand into her eyes. She screamed once more, falling backwards and became a sprawling mess on the ground, blood, screams, and nightmares being the only things coming from her. Jackal quickly grabbed his scimitar and readied to plunge it into her heart, but he couldn't keep his mind off of the tower card he saw earlier. Was this it? Ruby's death was the crumbling structure he must face? He was about to plunge into it, regardless of the demands and begging from the other side of the barrier not to, until he realized something strange. Cris had told him that he found hidden meanings within the cards, people looking like familiar faces, symbols giving him hints as to what the cards mean, maybe this was another one of those moments. But the card had nothing peculiar on it, nothing he remembered anyways, just the tower falling apart with...a man falling out of it...the man! How could he have missed it! But what did it mean?! Ruby quickly grabbed his leg and sent him to the ground as she continued to rub the sand out of her eyes. She readied her scythe once more, and Jackal began to worry. What did it mean? He recognized the man falling from the tower, he remembered what the man was doing too. He was falling and screaming something, but what? You can't just look at a picture and know what someone is shouting without a line of text telling you. Jackal thought fast, and it hit him. He knew what the man was shouting. He knew what he would shout if he fell. He grabbed Ruby in a tight hug. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." He continued, repeating himself as tears continued to fall from his face. The creature seemed to be calm, not moving. Then it began to hug back. Then it began to change back, until it was found on the ground in a tight hug with the Egyptian. 

"Yang! The switch!" Weiss demanded, freeing her from the ice that held onto her leg.

"On it!" With a flip of the switch, the barrier was lowered, and both team RWBY and JNPR ran towards Ruby and gave her a huge group hug, each one asking if she was alright. 

"Y-yes, I'm perfectly, ugh, fine. But..." Ruby stood back up weakly, with support from Weiss, and looked towards Jackal looking back at Ruby in shock and disbelief. 

"I...I was so afraid I'd have to..."

"What exactly are you sorry for?"

Jackal looked Ruby in the eyes though his tears "It's...personal..." 

Ruby focused on Jackal a bit and searched for a sufficient answer. Soon she found one, and sat back in amazement. "This...Isn't the first time we met?"

Jackal looked at Ruby. "No...Far from it." Jackal wiped some sweat dripping down from his head, and sighing with relief that the wounds on him had healed. "There's much we must discuss, but giving you all the details In one sitting is ludacris, so I'm not really sure where to start."

Yang stepped forth. "And how much do you know of her?"

Jackal looked at Ruby and nodded weakly. "Ruby Rose...Every single time I witness your style of fighting, you never fail to surprise me, especially during my countless ventures around the entirety of the multiverse. But this...This is different from everything else I've witnessed before. Never have I faced against you when you had an eldritch form...While I feared I would lose you a second time..."

Weiss was taken aback "W-wait. A second time?! What happened the first time?"

Jackal looked away, placing his scimitar away. "There is much to discuss..." Ruby stood up and stared in awe at Jackal, and Ozpin stared from afar, smiling at the progress that was made unexpectedly today. 

/////

Jackal looked out into the world in front of him. It seemed so large when viewed from Ruby's window, although Jackal had planned to learn every pathway possible. He originally wanted to do it in the other universes he had visited, but due to his constant universe jumping, this was a rare opportunity. Never once had he stayed invested in a universe for longer than 5 days, for his divine providence usually solved the problem swiftly. But ever since that fight with Ruby, after discovering the secret technique to unveiling one's true potential, Jackal and Ozpin had learned something new this day. For Ozpin, it was to make the training more intense to help those who were suspected to be infected with the pathogen. For Jackal, it was something he hadn't thought about in a long time, something he once thought he would burry in no time and forget about for the rest of his life. Rarely had a universe made him stop and reflect on who he is. Rarely had a universe made him feel something other than grand or beyond others when it came to power.

Ruby knocked on the door softly and after Jackal gave his affirmation, she walked in and locked the door behind her "Hey."

Jackal smiled. "Greetings."

"I...I just wanted to say...good fight."

"Y-yeah...excellent fighting. I'm glad to see you growing so strong over these past months."

Ruby looked towards Jackal and laid on her bed, looking towards the ceiling. "So...You seemed really..."

"Yeah...I don't have the happiest past." 

"But...who am I? To you I mean." 

Jackal lowered his head "To be honest...I'm not even sure anymore. A student? A child? A daughter I never had? A mistake I failed to make right? Those things are all in the past. Ever since my world..."

Ruby was silent. "Your world what?" 

Jackal pondered. "A long time ago, I was a God of a world known as Egypt. I worked with you, and we did our best to make sure that peace was had and people were happy. One day, I went out for a vacation and then...A creation god came." 

"Creation god?" 

"A being who creates universes, one that made yours...By destroying mine."

Ruby was shocked. "And with it...Did I...?"

"Yes." Jackal responded, with much sadness in his voice. "But It just so happened I went to the elder ones to vacation and they offered me a deal. If I could find 9 different versions of myself and join forces to take down a creature that's been eating the multiverse's many stars, then I could enact my revenge on the creation god. Eventually, I did, and I got what I wanted and more. My revenge, 9 new friends, and a lost memory...it's been 27 years since I lost you."

"I'm so sorry to hear."

"But you've grown so much! You've become stronger and a great huntress! I'm sure Tai is beyond proud with you."

Ruby blushed. "Heh, well that sounds like my dad alright. You could show him a stick-figure drawing you made and he'll treat it like it's something made by the artist hired by the Schnee corporation."

"Pfft. Sounds like a great father."

"Was he great in your universe?" 

Jackal pondered, the memories flowing back to him. "He was as good as gold and better."

Ruby smiled. "Thank you...for everything." 

"You're so very welcome my..." Jackal stopped himself. 

Ruby giggled to herself. "my what?"

"Nothing." 

"But-"

"NOPE!"

Silence filled the room as Jackal quickly pulled out his jumper ring and set it up. Ruby looked down and smiled. "Did you give me a nickname?"

"It was a silly name I gave to you when you were younger, you were young and so was I! I was 13 when I was chosen to be the sun god, and you were 6 when I chose you to take the role as my helper, so I just...forget it."

"Come on, I don't mind. My dad used to give us pretty cute nicknames, Yang got little sunshine dragon, and I got..."

"You got...?"

"...his little rose bud..."

"That's cute."

"So yeah."

Once again, silence swept the room as Jackal tossed the jumper ring and the gateway opened. "Well" Jackal began. "See you soon...My..." Jackal sighed. "My...Ever-blooming rose."

"YAAAY!"

"Please don't tell anyone about this..." Jackal begged through his blushing state. Ruby gave a quick nod, and Jackal, defeated, left through the gateway.

"Guess who got some FOOD!?" Yang shouted as she carried bags upon bags of food.

Weiss smiled, carrying another bag with her. "We decided to eat with you, so you're welcome."

Ruby smiled and gave a soft wave "Well thank you! Now, shall we?"

The girls had each founded their comfort zone for the night, enjoying their meal and their company. Jackal read that line in his book over and over again, and soon he closed it. A strange, wonderful emotion, so lost to time that he had almost forgotten it, filled his body and mind. During his training of becoming a God, he wanted to be free of bias decisions due to harmful emotions when it came to casting judgement and, by lacking emotion, he could avoid making unjust decisions. But after seeing what he had lost, after seeing what he had been searching for 27 years for, he could let those emotions fly like birds in paradise. For 27 years he had lost this chance to truly admire the girls and all their hard work and strength. Jackal smiles and placed the book away in his library, and readies himself for bed. How he would explain himself to Salem, that would have to wait for tomorrow. For now, Jackal can do what he had denied himself for years due to the nightmares and his inner fears. Tonight, he shall rest. 


	16. A new age

Vale...It was beautiful as per always from an above view. The forests ranged from all across the nation far and wide, and the students were like insignificant specks on the ground. And Jackal, watching from a safe distance inside his room, pondered at what he was viewing. To some pathetic mortal, they would just tell you it's a simple bird's eye view of Vale, and if they wanted to get specific, Beacon, where they could see things like some kids gossiping amongst one another, and some girl in red segregated from the rest of the students and training with her friends, while some dance and twirl with weapons like teens who just got their first gun and made some awful joke about how they're going to topple society with it. But despite how incorrect a mortal would be in their assumptions as to what the mortals below were doing, they would technically be correct. But Jackal knew exactly what he was seeing. It wasn't just a bunch of teens running amuck, they were warriors, destined to defeat a great evil someday by unlocking their true potential. It wasn't just a bunch of students, it was a bunch of dreams and hopes walking up and down the walkway of Beacon, each with a fixed destiny that none knew of except himself. It wasn't just some girl in red, it was a mortal who had achieved greatness, perfection even. He gave a slightly concerned glare towards the seer next to him and sighed. "It seems that my assumptions and deep fears about these mortals is coming to fruition unfortunately. They have evolved, much like the Grimm have against them. But this isn't too much of a surprise, all species evolve and adapt to their environment to survive, but what matters is how fast can we evolve." 

Watts pondered. "So they're stronger fighters, that's all? Surely there's more to this story than just them getting stronger." 

Jackal nodded. "It seems that they have uncovered a power that I once thought was myth. The eldritch evolution, a transformation capable of wiping out all of Grimm kind, turning the user into a killing machine, a monster of undefined proportions."

Tyrian giggled for a bit. "So it's backwards now, is it?! First we sent the monsters to kill them, and now the dear headmaster has decided to turn his precious children into the monsters!! HAHAHA!!"

Hazel looked away. "That maniac! Now he only sees his students as weapons! That...THAT-"

"Calm down Hazel." Salem commanded. "Let's first think how we can combat this new threat. Jackal, what exactly have you learned about this eldritch evolution? Is there any weaknesses?"

"The eldritch evolution is the alteration and disturbance of the soul, of your reality. It's the breaking point of your physical reality, a gift only given those deemed worthy by the elder ones. Only certain universes, certain timelines, are deserving of such a divine grace. They way they are presented is also sometimes a mystery. May it be via despair or perhaps something bad in the water, the eldritch evolution usually finds it prey easily and quickly. Destiny guides it, and it delivers its sickening effect to all who may come into contact with it. And now..." Jackal pondered his next set of words. He needed to inform Salem of the truth, only she would understand exactly what was going on, but the others may not be so forgiving and understanding. "Now those children are much more powerful than I could ever imagine. If we don't figure out something quick, then we may lose our dream of the perfect utopia!" 

Salem smiled, pondering her battle strategy. She pondered only for a moment, before turning the seer back to face her. "All those who come into contact with it, you say?"

"Yes, it's a pathogen that's spreading throughout the school."

"Then we won't try to kill them. We shall simply be patient and when the time is right, their power shall be their undoing."

"I could try to get a sample from them, then can Dr. Watts work on it himself?"

Watts shook his head. "I'm a doctor in technology, not pathogenic studies."

Jackal quickly thought of another solution. "Can you find a way to spread it to the rest of Remnant faster?"

Watts was flabbergasted. "Wha-Why would I do that?!"

"There's a certain kink in that pathogen that we could possibly exploit if we're careful enough. Due to its reality warping properties, it has a tendency of making the user go mad, insanity consuming the mind for those who have a weak soul. The pathogen doesn't just affect the body, but the soul as well, and since the soul is what's used to keep sanity and physical structure intact..."

Watts caught on. "So if we spread the pathogen to those with weak souls and strengthen ours, then those morons would go mad and end up killing each other, while we conquer with unstoppable power! I think I could work on something like that." 

Salem smiled, and for the first time in a long time felt a weird, warm feeling within herself, like seeing a child solving a complex math equation for the first time. "Then I do believe that's settled. Watts, Vale shall wait for now, place that research aside and begin research on Atlas and that pathogen, If we could bring Atlas down without trying then that could save us the trip. Tyrian shall accompany you on your exploration of the city. Cinder, I would like you, Emerald, and Mercury to take a stroll into Beacon. Try to gain more knowledge of the eldritch evolution and see what powers they posses. But before that, Hazel, I would like you to go with Cinder and check up on our allies in Vale. Make sure Adam is doing well. And finally, Jackal?"

"Yes?"

"I would like for you to go on a little field trip back to Beacon. I plan on using you and Cinder's team to bring it down to the ground." Jackal nodded.

"Is there a particular mortal I should spend my time analyzing for your convenience? Or perhaps mine?"

Salem gave a soft smile "Your choice. Perhaps that girl in red you kept prattling about the first time we met?"

Jackal nodded, and deactivated the seer once all was said and done. He sat back in his chair and looked towards his book and sighed, placing it back into his library and grabbing another book from the shelf. He blew the dust off of it and opened it and began reading. He wasn't actually reading it, but he just had a feeling he needed to do something else. He then placed that book down and found another to fake read, then another, then another until he ended up reading his book. The book of lost dreams, which had literally ever story ever created and thought of, was an endless library to which Jackal greatly found joy in reading, but the issue still being that he needed to think of something to read about. He pondered, before deciding to read about the girl in red. He skimmed through the pages, remembering certain parts of his life with her as they were told differently in this new form of his old home, until something caught his eye. He skimmed through the pages again, noticing something peculiar about the pages' corners. They all had a moon on them. "How peculiar." Jackal noted, then he closed the book and before placing it away, he thought of another story to read about, and opened the book slowly. Everything was still the same, same Yang, same Blake, same events that occurred yesterday, but the ending was still the same as well, unfortunately. The end was neigh, the end of this universe, where a great darkness would come and attempt to devour the world in its shadow, until a group of powerful beings would come and stop it. He looked at the drawing of the group stopping this vast evil and smiled. "That's going to be one heck of an ending. Hope it lives up to its hype." He joked to himself. He was about to close the book, when he forced it back open in shock. One person there looked familiar, and another person, and another! He closed the book and was about to think of a story, but noticed something was off. "Why...What did I just read?" He turned back to the ending, same people, same ending, and as he tried to think of another story regarding the people in the ending, he found himself lost again. "Must be a protective form of magic to prevent destiny from being destroyed. But what did I read?" Jackal continued to think and ponder, then deciding on another story to read, to which he flipped the pages to find his unknown answer to his unknown question. It was a silly story too, the history of the tarot in Remnant, as if it even existed in..."What the?!" Jackal continued to read, noticing the power and wonder of the tarot. It all made sense now. He closed the book, afraid he would forget. But he didn't. "This...This is what destiny has desired!" Jackal turned back to the story of the girl in red, noticing the moon once again on the corner. "Ruby...Ruby is XVIII-The Moon!!"

/////

Student gossip wasn't anything new In school life no matter what. There would always be some people saying this and that about some student and something about that student's friends and how they're roommates, and so on and so forth. The only thing that ever changed in gossip was subject, and Beacon was no exception. Ruby was the top story, followed by her friends, the monstrosity she became, and other related topics. But no one could figure out what had caused this. Radiation? Semblance technique? If it sounded crazy enough to work, then it would be added to the theory pile. Questions began arising as to why these kids were so special. Why are they always separated from the other kids? Are they part of some government experiment? What if they're aliens?! Who knows? But even still, no one could put the pieces together. But those were the people of Beacon's gossip, which Cinos couldn't focus on anyways. He was in too much of a hurry to worry about who's talking about what as he ran towards Ruby and Co. with his grocery bag filled with snacks for the team. And today was like every other, with Ruby honing her eldritch skills and becoming much more swift and precise with the guidance of Ozpin, Kokichi, and Saxton as B.D and Zim's commentary became much more intense. 

"Will she be able to hit that target before it hits the ground?! Here it comes...AND SHE DOES IT!! WHAT A SPECTACULAR STRIKE BY MS. RUBY ROSE!!"

"Yes indeed Zim, her skills have improved exponentially, and theory predicts that she'll only get stronger as time goes by."

"But it's strange how the others didn't change yet, what do you think is holding them back?"

"Well it might be their soul energy! You see, according to Jackal, local expert on the eldritch entities and what-nots, soul energy allows people to lose themselves and transform, but after a while using their eldritch forms they are no longer affected by the insanity driven downsides, but it seems that our friends haven't shown any symptoms of the pathogen, so they at least have some time to hone their skills and strengthen themselves so they don't go insane when the time comes! But it seems that these students have a long way to go, but imma be honest, my bet's on Schnee."

"Wow B.D, what a WEISS choice!" B.D looked towards Zim with a very annoyed face as Zim tried to hide his laughter, sending Weiss, who was training with Ren a few yards away, groaning before parrying another one of Ren's attacks. Training had been more intense these days, and for obvious reasons. But this was not what Weiss had expected when she signed up to head for Beacon. She expected training to the max, readying herself to defend her home and be just as great, or perhaps greater, than her sister. She received, however, an eldritch girlfriend and way more intense training. She probably would've collapsed by now if it weren't for Cinos' intrusion.

Some clacks of bones and little jumps of joy followed as the skeleton ran into the fray. Zim jumped from his seat excitedly. "I smell yum-yums!"

"Oh thank the Gods." Weiss groaned, dodging Ren's attack and sending him flying into Nora, who was battling Jaune at the time.

Nora fell when Ren collided into her, and with a small giggle, stood up and assisted Ren. "Maybe next time don't over commit?"

Ren nodded "Or maybe next time don't forget about..."

"Come on, say it, it's the best time of the day!"

"...Snack time..." 

"HELL YEAH IT'S SNACK TIME!!" Shouted Yang, who quickly ran over to Zim, holding out one hand for her delicious treat.

"Alright, alright, lemme just..." Zim received a note from Cinos, a list of who gets what. He then reached into the bag, checking off the list. "Let's see...Granola for Yang, tuna for Blake, strawberries for Ruby, a fine confectionary treat for Weiss Schnee."

Weiss carefully took the confectionary, which was just a bag of cookies with a mint leaf resting on top of the bag, tied down by a red piece of ribbon. "Thank you."

"No problemo, now then, animal crackers for Jaune, mini pancakes for Nora, some sushi for Ren, and a pumpkin spice granola for Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha took the granola with a smile "Thank you so much. Did he get anything for you 2? Assuming of course you can eat?"

"Well, it's my money, my treat. Of course the little scamp did!"

Yang was curious what he might've gotten for himself. It was probably just ink, but maybe...? "So what did you get?"

Zim opened the bag all the way, revealing cakes, lollipops, chocolates of all kinds, and gummies of all shapes, sizes, and flavors. "CANDY!" And with a hearty laugh, he jumped right into the bag and began to consume everything in sight, giggling all the way. "Lemon meringue pie, and strawberry shortcake, and chocolate cheesecake! HAHAHA!"

Jaune was exasperated "Y-you paid for all of that?!"

"Every single penny was totally worth it!" Zim said though a stuffed mouth full of cake and pastries.

Weiss was confused, however. "How exactly are you eating any of this stuff? I thought as an ink...thing, that you couldn't eat anything other than...well...ink!"

"Yeah...weird story. Like extremely weird story. It all started when I was born..."

Blake gave a disapproving sigh "Aaaand I have lost interest."

"And none of you are getting stronger standing around. I never realized how long snack time took." Jackal said, emerging through a jumper ring.

B.D was annoyed. "What?! We barely got started! Woah, dude your eyes are..."

"Did a really stupid thing today and pulled an all nighter. Don't want to talk..." Jackal yawned and almost fell asleep, but quickly shook himself awake. "Ahem. Don't want to talk about it, but knowing you people you'll ask anyways, so ask."

Yang was a little surprised "And what exactly were you doing all night?"

"Reading."

"Reading what?"

"Books, stories, basically just trying to apply knowledge from one source to another. As you can see, I have come out dry." Jackal sounded disappointed. 

Zim gave him a hard pat on the back. "Aww! Buddy, we know you'll do great!" 

"Aww, thanks Zim! Now back off. I'm tired and the last thing I need today is your...I don't even have the brain power to even insult you...Gods I'm a mess today." 

Ozpin smiled as he walked towards the group with Kokichi and Saxton close behind. "Welcome back to Remnant."

"Yes Mr. Ozpin. I prefer not to go into too much detail, but I assure you I'm perfectly...fine."

Kokichi was skeptical. "That's the look of someone who pulled an all nighter. Reading your stories again?"

"You better believe it." Responded Jackal.

Zim giggled. "Well, as much as I would LOVE to stay here and continue giggling at Jackal's current state, I have places to be!"

"Where are you going?" Asked Pyrrha.

"I haven't told you?! I wanted to travel all of Remnant with my best buddies B.D and Cinos, to see the world and witness its wonders up front! It's been my dream to travel ever since I was a wittle child!"

Ruby was intrigued. "You had a childhood? Inklings have childhoods!?"

"Indeed I did! When I was but a wee ink splat, I was born into the realm of the demons, or as your kind call it, Hell. But they saw potential in me, so they invited me to witness their circus. And I loved it so much I asked to join, and I got in on the first try! The Dante and Beatrice Circus, ran by the 2 most amazing people to ever live (and die) and the ringleader could ringlead, the trapeze artist can trapeze draw, and me, the best juggler you've ever seen on this gosh darn plane of existence, would excite audiences with my miraculous skills! Oh! It brings a tear to my eye every time I think about it!"

Nora was all kinds of confused. "Demon realm? Circuses? I need some explanation."

Zim giggled to himself. "Yeah...Universes can be pretty weird, especially mine."

Weiss shook her head. "Ok, so you were born in..."

"Hell, my dear."

Everyone looked towards Jackal for an answer, and he yawned and rubbed his eye. "Hell, for him, is its own separate universe where demons are not consistent with one another, so one's made of ink, another rock, that one's made from mac and...cheese, etc. Don't worry, that's not where you go when you die, thankfully." 

"Right...So, what exactly is a circus?" 

Zim spat out some of the cake he was eating. "Wait, WHAT?! It's a place where everyone gets together and enjoys food, games, and the best form of entertainment being the performers, such as jugglers, tightrope walkers, the ringleader showing off the amazing acts, the beast tamers showing off the amazing capabilities of animals of all shapes and sizes like lions, tigers, elephants, etc.! Surely you guys have to have something similar to something like this!! "

Everyone thought for a moment, then Ozpin snapped his fingers in a eureka moment. "The Vital Festival! It has always come every 2 years for celebratory reasons, it's pretty much the same thing, only the vital festival has their form of entertainment with fighting. Different fighters from different schools would compete to see who the best school is. It's a time for unity and a celebration for the 4 kingdoms. Am I right to assume the circus is similar to our festival, celebrating the unity of our nations?"

Zim pondered for a moment, then gave a small shrug. "I guess it's close enough, though I would have to inquire Jackal about it. Jackal!! Is he right to assume-"

Jackal, irritated, silenced Zim with one hand on his mouth and the other facepalming himself. "YES. He's right to assume. Don't you have a world to explore?"

Zim moved back and smiled "You're right! Ready B.D?! Cinos?!" 

"Always ready dude!" Replied B.D. Zim took off one of his arms and gave it a hard shake, turning it into a bag hanging off of a stick. He did this for each of his friends and himself and, with a wave and a farewell, the 3 of them left into the forest and went out traveling. 

Kokichi smiled. "They grow up so fast."

Jackal was...tired. "He's literally 276 years old."

Saxton cuddled near Kokichi. "It's heartwarming seeing such an innocent child wander off to see the world for himself, no longer needing our guidance."

"He's literally a demon from Hell."

"I wonder how the world would perceive his works and attempts to make the world a better place."

"They would see and mistake him for a Grimm, and he'd be forced into combat and..." Another yawn escapes Jackal's mouth. "Oh forget it. Why do I even bother at this point?" 

"Welp." Began Ozpin. "That would conclude today's training, everyone back to your dorms, don't forget to pick up dinner on your way there. A light snack is nothing compared to what a full meal can accomplish." With a nod, everyone began to leave. Kokichi and Saxton tossed their jumper rings and left, while team RWBY and JNPR left for their dorms. But before they all left...

"Hey! Jackal?" Asked Ruby. 

"Present."

"Mind if I have a chat with you? I'll catch up with you guys soon, I just want to catch up with Jackal."

"I see no reason why not. Sure." Once the remaining teammates left, Ruby and Jackal were left alone, standing and staring at either each other or the ground. 

"So...Uhh..." Ruby began.

"I may be tired, but I will try to answer to the best of my ability. Please, speak."

"So...Are you actually ok?"

"Correct. I actually wasn't joking about the whole all-nighter thing."

"And you didn't find anything?"

"Well...I did find something...But..." Another yawn. "As you can see, I'm in much need for a rest. How is your eldritch training coming along?"

"Good...Good..."

"You sound..."

Ruby looked downward. "Scared? uncertain?"

"Unconfident. But those adjectives also work."

Ruby thought for a moment. "It's just...I guess it's just all the weird stares I tend to get." 

"Cardin giving you a hard time?"

"Oh, no, we've gained better terms with him last year...It's just..."

Jackal frowned. "Sit. Tell me your issues." Jackal instructed, Ruby followed. "Tell you what. Tell me what's on your mind, and I'll…Try to tell you what's on mine, like sharing secrets. Deal?"

"Yeah..." Ruby, once again, looked down. "I feel...Not right sometimes, like I don't belong here. I mean, I feel great being at this school and having all these friends, but..." Ruby frowned. "I just...Don't feel like I belong here..."

"And what makes you feel that way? Age? Appearance? Perhaps the eldritch evolution has you feeling like..."

"A freak? Yeah, I guess that's the answer." Ruby turned to face Jackal. "Have you had this talk with me before? In your old life?" 

"Maybe, but that was a very long time ago, and I'm very tired. Listening, but tired nonetheless. Don't make my previous experience with you feel like I'm going through the motions or anything. I care about your issues, so please, proceed."

Ruby looked back at the ground again. "I'm afraid."

"What makes you say that?"

"Afraid that I might hurt my friends again, hurt anyone close to me. Maybe people won't accept me anymore, just see me as some monster. What..." Ruby's eyes shot open. "What would Dad think of me? What would Uncle Qrow think?!" Ruby looked at Jackal, who was also looking at the ground. "J-Jackal?"

Jackal didn't move. "Sorry. Just trying to find the right words...These types of issues aren't very easy to solve because they're understandable. I don't want to make my family hate me for who I am, yet I love them enough to the point I begin regretting doing the things I love or know what's right to do." Ruby began to tear up. Jackal thought for a moment, then nodded. "Have you, by some chance, ever heard the tale of Thamur?"

Ruby looked confused. "Who?"

"I'll take that as a no. Thamur was a giant in the old days, and he was a stonemason. But not any old stonemason, he was the best of the best. He had a son named Hrimthur, who he wanted to pass his vast knowledge too. But Hrimthur wanted only to become a warrior. Soon, due to this, and argument bubbled up and Thamur bashed his son on the head. Hrimthur ran from his father in both sadness and hatred, while Thamur ran to apologize to his son, but the 2 got separated, and one couldn't find the other. But throughout his chase, Thamur ran into the one person he didn't want to see at night...A giant killer by the name of Thor. Thor was drunk at the time, and he slaughtered the stonemason, then passed out in the snow. In the morning, Thor realized what he had done, and didn't feel regret until he saw his son ran and mourn his father's death. Thor offered to take both the father and son to see Odin, the king and Thor's father, to see what they could do. Odin wasn't the best of friends with the giants, they have a very nasty history with one another, but Odin always offered kindness to those who offered it back in return. After scolding his son for wandering drunk during the night and causing this whole scuffle, Odin decided on a few matters, to which the son agreed to. Odin offered to use his magic to send the giant into the stars, who is now a constellation which you can see at night, and the giant's son would be given a task. 2 tasks, which he could choose from. Thor was placed in charge of helping the giants with a wall over in Hrimthur's home, Jötunheim, so Hrimthur was given the option of strengthening the walls of Asgard, Odin and Thor's home, or to do what he desired to be, a warrior, and to slay a mythical beast that had been causing Asgard much trouble over the years, an eagle that has been stealing crops for hundreds of years. The son, determined to make his father proud and to do what he always wanted to do, vowed to take on both tasks, and only asked for 2 rewards of his choosing. He desired for the wall, to have an audience with Frey, Odin's wife, and for the bird, he only asked for a grand feast to be made and sent to his home for his friends to devour. To sweeten the pot, Hrimthur even offered that if he couldn't complete both tasks in the span of a month, Odin would owe him nothing in return for either task. Odin agreed, eager to see how the stonemason's son would hold up to both ends. Thanks to the training instilled to him by his father, Hrimthur was able to complete the wall in no less than a week, and thanks to his training of him becoming a warrior, not only was he able to find the eagle's nest, but he was able to slay it in no less than a week, leaving him a whole half-month to spare. Odin was extremely delighted to see his wall finished and his bird problem no more, despite being on the losing end of the bargain, and Thor arrived home by the end of the month, exhausted from helping the giants with their wall and glad that It was over. Odin, amazed and surprised by all his hard work, had given everything the Giant asked for. A feast was sent to his home, and Frey was given as audience. But surprisingly, Hrimthur only wanted to whisper something into her ear, and when all was said and done, he left for his home. But halfway down, Thor returned to the Giant, holding both a giant hammer that could instantly slice stone into any shape the holder desired, and a sword that doubled as a shield. Hrimthur was shocked to hear that Odin was so obliged by his hard work and dedication, he offered 2 dwarves, Brock and Sindri, to craft the giant 2 items as thank you for helping the Asier with their issues. Hrimthur thanked Thor, Thor apologized for what he did, and both parted their separate ways, Hrimthur proud of himself and at peace, and Thor ever wiser." 

"So...Hrimthur did what he wanted and felt proud for what he did, but then did what his father always wanted to make his father proud, and in the end he was awarded for both?"

"All knowledge is important, and a wise person would be able to take advantage with one who's knowledge is vast and wide. The stonemason went to find his son because he regretted what he did to him, not to bash him again for becoming a warrior. And the son did the work on the wall, not because his father forced him too, but because he felt that it was something that needed to be done. He got rewarded for both, and he got rewarded again, mainly because Odin was kind and generous, but also because he did what he believed was right. Don't be afraid of what people might think, if what you do is what you believe is right and it is truly right, then you have no reason not to do It. If becoming an eldritch being is something that must be done to save the world and eradicate the Grimm, then don't be afraid of doing it. Heck, show it off even, you are going to be a world saver! People all over are going to look at you and want to be just like you. Well, maybe there are some that are not comfortable with becoming literally who you are but still, you get what I mean. Do what you think is right, not what others think you should do. Don't let other's opinions throw you off your game. Understand?"

"Yes?" Ruby nodded slowly, noticing that Jackal was shedding some tears. "Jackal? Are you ok?"

"I suppose. It's an old story I heard once while traveling. It just...Reminds me of the awful things I did in my past. Lesson learned, yes, but that doesn't fix the past. So please, don't do anything stupid, ok?"

"Umm...Sure?"

"Is that a question or an affirmative response?"

"Yes, I won't do anything stupid."

"Hmm...Like I said, not a very easy question to answer, but I answered it to the best of my ability."

"Thanks anyways." 

"You know, people used to give you weird looks when you used to help me. They called you a weirdo, a God's pet, and just a special snowflake just for being picked as my assistant. You constantly cried to your father about it, you were so young and so afraid. So when I caught wind of it, I'd reassure you that you are special in your own way, and I used to sing you...lullabies to make you feel sleepy and happy...So did your father...We both cared so much about you it was unreal..."

"Jackal?"

"Sorry...The sleepiness is catching up-Huh?! W-what are you?!" Jackal was shocked to find Ruby holding him up.

"How do you use this jumper ring thing anyways?"

"Just...Hand it over to me." Jackal took the ring and tossed it, opening a gateway to his room. 

Ruby looked confused. "Where's your bed?"

"Don't need a bed in zero gravity. Go on, try it."

Ruby stepped inside, and was instantly shocked that she began floating and was mesmerized by the constellations on the ceiling, the waterfall in the middle of the room, and the beautiful colors that surrounded them. "Woah...This is your room? J-Jackal?" But he was already passed out. Ruby laid him onto his desk and began to leave. She looked back at the sleeping God and smiled as the gateway closed. 

"Well that certainly was a long meeting between the 2 of you." Yang commented.

Ruby looked towards Yang with a smile. "More like the longest story he ever told me. It was...nice. I'll have to tell you it someday, if I could remember how it went."

"Whatever. Wanna build a pillow fort in the dorms?"

Ruby began walking with Yang to the dorms."You mean Castle of the impenetrable roses, correct?"

"Correct, and if we're quick enough we can even beat Weiss up with pillows before she even knows what hit her!!" Ruby's eyes lit up, and both girls ran for the dorms, eager to build forts and to beat up friends with pillows.

/////

Cris quietly walked into Jackal's room and noticed the God was sleeping on his desk. He floated towards the God and pondered his next move. He moved his face closer to the God, examining his features, his smooth skin (Although rough hands), and his tranquil state. Cris gulped, took a deep breath, and leaned in close...Closer...Closer...until he was quickly snatched up by Jackal's arm. He struggled to move, blushing as red as a tomato, but not until Jackal spoke. "Shhh...Just...Relax..."

Cris turned to face Jackal, his rough hands luckily were on his back and not rubbing on his face, and Cris returned the hug, snuggling close to his chest, and soon, he had fallen asleep too. 


	17. The ever curious God and his ever curious follower

The feeling of waking up was like a rebirth to Jackal, getting the rest he deserved and needed. But what he didn't suspect was Cris sleeping in his arms. Luckily his arms were on his back, but unluckily Cris' head was on his chest, which would explain the wet feeling. Jackal softly tapped on Cris' head, which woke him up in time, and shocked him as well as he dashed away from Jackal in embarrassment. "S-SORRY MR. JACKAL! I WAS JUST...JUST..."

But Jackal had not the time nor the care to worry about how he ended up there. Instead, his mind was set on a different issue he planned on fixing today. "It's fine Cris, no need to worry." 

Cris was still embarrassed. "Are you sure?"

"As can ever be. I wanted to take a walk today, maybe train a little myself, get the old gears working again. Wanna tag along?"

"Me? You want me to tag along with you?"

"That's exactly what I said."

"But where are we headed? What would we do?" 

Jackal pondered for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't really know, but maybe somewhere like Ruby's universe, for training purposes. Something tells me we're going to be here for a LOOOOONG time. Is your axe sharpened as well as your arrows, and your bow in pristine condition?"

"Y-yes?"

"Good. Then come, I want to try and understand mortals a bit better. Shouldn't be too hard, just a quick in and out adventure. Heck, I'll even let you pick where you want to go. Here, catch." Jackal tossed Cris his book, filled with the many stories of the multiverse. "Go on, pick."

Cris was shocked at such an opportunity, and wouldn't find himself wasting it either. He scoured through the many pages, trying to think of a universe that could help Jackal become a better person. "How about this one?"

Jackal looked into the book. He rolled his eyes. "Sure, why not. Shall we?" Cris nodded, Jackal tossed the jumper ring, and they both went on their merry way.

/////

Nora was far ahead of the group, happily giggling to herself as she skipped and hopped across the forest grounds "We're going on a hike! We're going on a hike! It's time to say Hip Hip Hurray! We're going on a hike!" The forest welcomed the young hunters and huntresses with falling leaves as fall was closing in. Ruby and Weiss were walking along the path holding hands, and so were Yang and Blake, and surprisingly no Grimm have appeared to ruin their little hike. 

Ruby perked up from Weiss' shoulder and smiled at the scenery around them. "I didn't even realize how beautiful this forest is. It's usually filled with Grimm, but I guess today is their day off."

"I would still be on guard. You never know what might come out of this forest." Ren advised, listening for any sounds that might be out of the ordinary. 

"Aw come on Ren! just enjoy the wonders of N A T U R E." Nora says, spinning around with her hands and arms out, as leaves continued to fall onto the ground and on her face, causing her to lose her balance and fall into a small leaf pile. She sat up and gave a heart felt laugh as Ren picked her up.

Jaune smiled "I sense a ship sailing" He whispered to Pyrrha.

"Are you sure? They just might be really good friends."

"Aww come on, it's obvious!"

Pyrrha watched as Nora and Ren continued to laugh at one another as they continued to fall into the leaf pile as each of them kept pulling each other back into it. "Yep. Pretty obvious."

"I know right?! I wish I had someone like that one day. Just me, her, and maybe a leaf pile to enjoy that same experience." 

Pyrrha gave a small giggle. "I'm sure that one day you'll find the one. Maybe they're just right in front of you and you're too blind to see them, or maybe they're too blind to see you?"

Jaune blinked. "Wow. Now that was deep, but I'm sure of it too! I mean, look at me, my sword, and Uhh...My personality too! How could anyone not love me?" Jaune said, holding his sword out. But a leaf fell onto the tip of his sword and a spider, who was sleeping calmly on the leaf, began to crawl towards the hilt of the sword, which caused Jaune to let out a high pitched scream, and Pyrrha to let out a small laugh. 

But before Pyrrha could take another step, Ren stopped her in her tracks. Everyone was brought to a halt as Ren closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. It didn't take long before the sound of a king taijitu's hiss could be heard again by the group. "That way. Care to tangle with something that big Ruby?"

Ruby smiled and began to run towards the direction Ren pointed in, her scythe already beginning to take part of her as she transformed into her eldritch form. "Let's find out!" And with a determined nod, the rest of the team followed close behind. 

/////

Jackal carefully watched as Ruby walked towards a tree, with both a note and her weapon in hand. But she noticed something was off, as a man in a white coat and a black bowler hat appeared from behind the tree with a devilish grin. "Little Red, my dear sweet Little Red. You seem to have a hard time following directions, didn't I write to you to not bring your big red can opener with you?"

Ruby readied her scythe and pointed its sharp end towards the thief. "I can't take any chances when it comes to people like you."

"Well that's one way of saying you don't like me. And I honestly thought we were soulmates! The little tattoo on my right hand told me so."

Ruby moved back, making sure the glove on her right hand was on as tight as It could be. "I don't care what the tattoo on your hand tells you. You're a thief, plain and simple. You really think you can just waltz right into my life and just...ruin it?"

Roman looked towards Ruby and could see her concern for herself, and he began to walk towards her "Listen, Ruby, I just-"

"STAY BACK!" Ruby demanded, but Roman continued to walk towards her. She continued to walk backwards until she fell over, and Roman stopped. Ruby held out her scythe in a form of defense. Roman held out his hand in a form of peace. 

"Can I please speak Ruby. Please, let me just..." Roman had ran out of words to beg. Ruby thought for a moment, and reluctantly lowered her scythe.

"Care to sit here and speak?"

"Very much so." Roman said, sitting next to Ruby. "When I realized that I had the mark, I thought I was going insane! You of all people being my soulmate was possibly the darkest joke I've ever been told. But then I thought about it for a while longer. Your constant adventuring, optimistic views, your childish nature. I don't understand why but..."

"You enjoy those things about me. That explains why you showed up to help innocent people during the fight at Beacon. But why do you continue to steal from dust shops then?"

Roman lowered his head "It's all I know what to do with my life. I've done it with Neo ever since I was a kid. I think we began when we were...7?"

"7?! So you were born poor?" Roman nodded his head. Ruby wasn't sure how she should answer such a response. The only thing she could do was stay silent and sit next to Roman. 

"You know, I actually thought my soulmate would've been Neo, and when I got the soulmark...I'm going to be honest with you, I was beyond relieved deep down. Neo is just my partner in crime, not my lover. But I was still surprised that It was you and, to be honest once again, I want to...I...ummm."

Ruby looked towards Roman and took his hand into hers, much to his suprise. Nothing was said between the 2. Leaves continued to fall, and Jackal and Cris continued to watch from afar behind another tree. They could see Ruby and Roman cuddling like children. Cris smiled. "Don't they look adorable? Love blossoming and hopes rising?"

Jackal rolled his eyes. "Cris, I've read so many love stories, and many I deep down wish I never read. I don't see how this Is going to help, but I'll continue watching if it pleases you." 

"Maybe you've read them, but didn't understand them?"

Jackal gave a look towards Cris and smiled. "We'll see." He turned to watch Ruby from afar, who was looking towards the ground in blush. 

"Roman...I want to try it too."

Roman looked towards Ruby and smiled. "Where would you even prefer to have a date at?"

"Does this count as a date?"

"This? But I forgot my romantic candle a home!"

Ruby giggled, leading Roman to do the same. Cris smiled at their love. Jackal, however, noticed a beowulf sneaking upon the lovers a mere yard away from them. "Cris, we have company." Jackal pointed at the creature, and Cris readied his arrow. But something itched at Cris' mind.

"Jackal? Don't these Grimm attack in packs of 3? What is this one doing all by-" Jackal quickly pushed Cris to the side and quickly countered a charging Beowulf by slicing its stomach, orange flames burning through the Grimm flesh, causing the creature to fall and squirm, until it stopped moving. 

"Cris! Quickly, Ruby's Beowulf!"

"Right!" Cris readied his bow once more and took aim. "Brann" He whispered, and he let his arrow fly. It hit it's target on the head, and it combusted into flames, igniting the Grimm, making it screech in pain, and alerting Ruby and Torchwick. 

"What the hell was that?!" Roman shouted, turning to see the beowulf. 

Ruby turned to see the 2 universe jumpers who took aim. "Thank you!" 

Cris smiled. "Aww, she thanked us! You're welcome!" Cris shouted back.

Jackal, however, wasn't satisfied. "That was 2, so where's number 3?" 

That was when a Grimm head was chucked from the bushed and landed in the middle of the meadow. It turned to dust, and Neo stepped out of her hiding spot. 

Roman was shocked. "N-Neo?! You were watching the whole time?!" Neo giggled, and so did Ruby. Jackal began to walk with Cris towards the group of hunters and thieves, until heard something and stoppe.

Cris was curious. "Something the matter?" 

"Very." Jackal quickly took out his scimitar and tossed it to the right side of the forest. A loud screech was heard as a king Taijitu squirmed out of the forest, scimitar stuck in its side. Jackal ran towards the beast, dodging its many attempts to bite him, and pulled out his blade. He gave a quick slice in the air, some fire spewing out from the blade, blinding the snake. He gave a few more slices before returning to Cris. "Found our problem."

Cris looked terrified. "That thing is huge!" 

"Care to bring it down with me?"

"I'll try! Some assistance would be nice Ms. Ruby!'"

"On it!" Ruby gave a thumbs up. Roman was a little disheartened that he left his weapon back at base in order to have this moment with Ruby, but Neo gave Roman his weapon, which she kept just in case. Roman, after showering Neo with a bucket load of thank you's, readied himself, and the 5 hunters began their assault on the beast. 

/////

The king hissed. Strike after strike had missed when it came to Ruby's unmatched speed. But surprisingly it didn't hunt alone, for others had joined it. It was rare and tough to fight a king taijitu, it was even more complicated to fight 4 at a time, forcing everyone to work together and combat the snakes themselves. Weiss had teamed herself with Ruby in order to double time a king, while Ren had worked with Nora, Yang and Blake battled a king themselves, and finally Jaune and Pyrrha teamed up to combat the 4th king. Each one striking with ferocity and speed, but the small humans were hard targets, and with an eldritch monster against them, the kings were having much difficulty defeating the small beings. 

Ruby looked towards Weiss with a childish look of glee. "Ready Weiss?"

Weiss nodded in agreement. "Time to test this bad-boy out! Wow, that was cool to say."

"TOLD YOU!" Yang shouted from across the forest.

"Here goes nothing! ICE FLOWER!" Ruby said, charging at the king with all her might, while Weiss prepared her weapon. Ruby used her scythe arm to knock down the creature and while the snake was attempting to recover, Weiss unleashed her spell of ice, and Ruby's stomach unleashed a fiery blast towards the ice spell, turning the fire into a wall of ice and flames, covering the snake in ice, and with a swift strike from Weiss rapier the snake shattered into millions of icy pieces. "HA!! Teamwork baby!"

Another king hissed from across the forest as Yang and Blake effectively took it down. As the king squirmed under Yang's arm, Blake swiftly sliced its head clean off, leaving the other a lost, confused, squirming mess. Yang ran up to it and, with one well placed punch, eradicated the grimm. "HA! Suck on that! How does it feel to get your butts kicked by girls!?"

Blake looked at Yang with a confused look. "Why would it matter if they were beaten by guys or girls? They still die in the end." 

"Well yeah but they lost to a girl, so it's embarrassing because they're weak!"

Blake facepalmed herself softly, gave herself only a moment, then looked towards Yang. "Yang...2 things. 1.) Grimm cannot feel anything, let alone embarrassed, so they wouldn't even care, and 2.) Are you saying it's embarrassing to be beaten by a girl because the man is weak or because the woman is strong because it's not expected that the woman be the strong one? Are you implying that when a woman wins it's not because she was strong but because the man was weak?"

Yang took a few moments to process what she heard, then looked towards Blake with a smile. "I understood the words 'strong' and 'woman' and absolutely nothing else in that spiel of yours." 

Jaune was the one to break their moment. "H-Hey girls! Glad to hear you're doing great with socially interacting with each other but Uhh...HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!!" 

Yang smiled. "Don't worry Jaune! With our help, these snake kings are hisss-tory! Eh?" Jaune gave out a very panicked scream and Blake gave a small chuckle, leading Ruby and Weiss back to work, while Blake thought of how to slice these kings' heads off and Yang thought of more dumb snake puns.

/////

Roman fired another round into the beast, causing its attention to swerve and focus on him. Blast after blast only annoyed the beast further, as it began to charge towards him. Ruby quickly intercepted, lodging the scythe into the serpent's mouth and pulling as far down the serpent's body as she could possibly go, the serpent's hisses growing ever louder as Ruby went farther down. But when she was halfway down, the serpent's other head charged for her, but it too was intercepted by Jackal, stabbing its head and forcing it to lurch upwards as he begun to stab it's eye, causing it to violently jerk from side to side. But before it could throw off Jackal, Cris quickly readied his arrow, whispered "Kald" and fired an arrow towards the serpent's head. It slowed down, and soon froze up and stopped moving. Jackal took his blade and slid down the serpent's body, slicing it all the way down, the orange flame trailing behind him as he reached the bottom. Soon the serpent jerked, it's only functioning head thrashing around frantically trying to find some way of getting out alive whilst killing its prey, but ruby quickly stabbed its neck, pulled the trigger, shooting her upwards into the sky, and using her semblance to shoot herself back downwards to the ground, slicing the beast's head on the other side. 

"Here goes nothing!" Ruby shouted, and pulled the trigger once more, shooting herself across the serpent's body, slicing the neck clean off. The serpent gave one final hiss before it lost all life, and disappeared into nothingness. Everyone was tired and relieved it was over. 

Jackal caught his breath and went over to Cris, patting him on the back. "Well done Cris."

"Th-thanks Mr. Jackal!"

Ruby went over to the 2 universe jumpers and put her fist out for a fist bump. "Awesome job out there guys!" 

"Thanks Ms. Ruby!" Cris gave the fist bump back, while Jackal gave more of a soft one. 

"I've never seen you 2 before in this school, are you new transfers?" 

"Actually" Jackal began. "We were just walking by when we noticed you needed help. So we just did what we could."

Roman walked towards the 2 and smiled. "I certainly hope you're not hoping for compensation." 

"Not at all. " Jackal responded. "Your thanks is all the compensation we desire." 

Ruby smiled. "Well, thanks!" 

Cris returned the smile. "Of course. Uhh...Jackal?" 

"Hmm? Oh! Right, we have to get going! We've been so busy we completely forgot what we went out here to do, please forgive us but we must be going!" 

Ruby nodded. "Of course! Have a good day!" 

"Same to you!" Cris stated, and the both of them ran for the hills, hiding behind one of the many hills, completely out of sight. "Thanks for getting us out of that situation."

"When you spent your whole life around mortals and keep up with their culture, you tend to find many ways to get out of unwanted situations. Simply be witty, not blunt. Wit gets you friends, while being blunt gets you ugly stares." 

"I see...Hey, Jackal?"

"Yes Cris?" But he remained silent, unsure on how to word what he's about to say next. 

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Everything. For teaching me tarot cards, for letting me join you on this adventure, for letting me be on your team, for..."

"...last night, perhaps?" Jackal suggested.

"Y-yeah." Cris agreed. 

Jackal quickly tossed the jumper ring and pushed Cris right into it. "Great, amazing, fantastic, hey Cris, do me a favor and can you give me a moment I need some time to myself to reflect on something I read once cool thanks ok bye!" And with a quick shove he kicked Cris out of his room and locked it. With a sigh of relief, he looked towards the seer and gulped. "How the hell am I going to explain this one?"

/////

"WHEW! Talk about a workout! It's already sundown!" Shouted Yang. The gang had finally left the forest and were marching happily back to their dorms. Blake was tuckered out and leaning on Yang's shoulder, and Pyrrha was carrying an extremely tired out Jaune. Nora and Ren were perfectly fine, although Nora tried to fake being tired, and it might've worked if she didn't jump up in celebration to Ren agreeing to carry her. Ruby and Weiss were the last ones to leave the forest, smiling all happily and dandy. Ruby, however, had something on her mind, and Weiss could tell by her scrunched up face.

"Something the matter Ruby Rose?" Weiss asked.

Ruby nodded when the others were out of ear shot. "I guess it's just how much we've grown that's bothering me. I mean, we just took down 3 king taijitus! "

Weiss smiled as she continued walking. "All thanks to you of course."

"Honestly, I can't wait to see your forms. It's just a really long, boring, and painful patience test."

"Heh. Well, I'm sure we'll look dashing together, taking names and kicking Grimm."

Ruby smiled. "Have I told you that I'm amazing at 2 things in life?"

"Really? What?"

"Eating cookies and beating Grimm. And we're all out of cookies." Ruby couldn't contain herself from laughing, and neither could Weiss.

/////

Jackal fed his snakes and placed them back inside their basket and then took a seat at his fortune table. He looked towards the seer on the table, and on the other side was Salem, waiting for him. "Well?" She began. "How are you feeling about the mortals?" 

Jackal smiled. "Well...after my study with mortals, I have noticed how much they've been improving with their friendships my Goddess. It's extraordinary what people can accomplish with something as seemingly weak yet strong. To think that you and Ozpin were such strong allies is mind blowing, the strength must've been-" Jackal stopped when he realized what he had said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought up his name, please forgive me-"

"No...It's fine. Continue." Salem insisted, much to Jackal's surprise. 

Jackal slowly grabbed his book and turned the page to where it spoke of Ozma and Salem's alliance. "The bond you 2 had was incredible, the bond between Gods to bring mortals together as one was such a wonderful read for me. Such a wonderful story you 2 had created with your lives. It's a shame what happened between you 2, however..." Jackal collected his courage. Time to ask the million dollar question. "Do you wish you could go back and fix your mistakes, or try and convince Ozma to fix his? Do you regret what you did, how you reacted?"

Salem pondered for a very long while, taking a lap around the table. Once she had finished, she looked back into the seer, back at the young child who reminded her too much of what could've been. "Even Gods have regrets. But all living beings must find a way to move on. This is my way, and I believe you found yours?"

Jackal smiled, although it was one filled with awkwardness. "M-maybe?" 

Salem looked confused. "Is something the matter?"

"NOTHING!! UHH I mean...Nothing at all my Goddess, everything is-" The seer lifted a tentacle and brushed it on Jackal's cheek, as he flinched at the touch. It's tentacle was sharp, but it's touch was smooth.

"Speak your mind, I will judge only if it suits me." Salem reassured.

"Very well my Goddess." Jackal agreed. The seer took the tentacle off, balancing a single droplet of sweat on it's sharp end. Jackal looked down and spoke. "So Uhh...Is there, ANY possible way to test your sexual orientation? Cause I may or may not be questioning mine really badly at the moment?" Jackal looked up at the seer, and Salem was in shock. 

"I Uhh...I think that's enough for today."

Jackal slammed his head on the table. "I knew you were going to judge."

"Did you really expect me not to?"

"I was kind of hoping for that." Salem slowly placed her face in her hands and Jackal continue to cringe on his table. The day started off great, and it ended with a crash, and continued with a burn. 


	18. The cartoon's pilot episode

Crate after crate was carefully stacked onto the other as white fang members continued their work, and Roman continued to take charge of each and every one of them. The work had to be completed, or at least be close to being finished, before Cinder and her rag tag team of idiotics arrived to inspect his progress. "Today's such a busy day, why look at me Neo! I'm already breaking a sweat!" Roman took a small handkerchief from his pocket and carefully dapped his forehead while another white fang member next to him collapsed due to heat exhaustion. Roman groaned. "What did I say about hydration ladies and gentlemen? Don't forget to HYDRATE!" He then turned to 2 additional white fang members. "Take him somewhere he can cool off and rehydrate and remind him that if this happens one last time...Well, to put it simply, we don't need people who are as weak as him." Roman stated, and the white fang members did just that. 

Neo tapped the crate she was sitting on with her umbrella twice to grab Roman's attention, then pointed at the figures walking towards him. Cinder had arrived, and she even brought her friends along too.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Shouted Roman, arms out. 

Cinder could only roll her eyes and get straight to the point. "Progress report Roman."

Roman lowered his arms in disappointment. "87 crates of dust crystals, 370 tubes of dusty dust, and more crates of bullets than I bet your lackey over there can count!"

Mercury gave a small wave. "Nice to see you again too Roman."

Cinder turned back to Roman. "87 isn't nearly enough for what we're planning, we need more."

Neo got off of her crate and joined Roman by his side as Roman's eyes had widen. "MORE?! Oh cinder-men roll, I hope you've been paying attention to recent events as of lately. May I be the first to inform you that dust prices have been skyrocketing through the roof?! And who do we have to thank for that? This guy!" Roman exclaimed, pointing towards himself. 

"Yes, I know, but-"

"And another thing cin sin! It's also been increasingly difficult to rob dust stores nowadays, and I'll be more than happy to give you not 1, but 2 reasons why! First, because how could I rob a dust store when there's literally nothing in it! I wonder why? Oh right! The rising dust prices! How could I forget so easily? And second, they've been having higher defense and security for those same dust shops, and now even looking at it could be seen as a felony!" 

"SO THEN FIGURE IT OUT ROMAN!" Cinder cried out.

Hazel was quick to intervene. "Wait, just wait. We can sort this out easily, I'm sure!"

Roman looked at the giant in front of him and smiled. "Well hello to you too. Have we met before or are you another one of Cinder's toys?"

Hazel was a little anxious at first, but soon held out his hand. "My name is Hazel. I work under Cinder, yes, but I do hope we can become good allies." 

Roman was impressed by the giant's kindness. "Well, aren't you just such a wonderful guy? In this dangerous world of horrors, grimm, and murderers you still try to offer me a handshake. Well I'm sorry to inform you Hazel nut, but we don't do those kind of things he-NEO!" But it was too late, and Neo was shaking Hazel's hand and trying her best to introduce herself using the most basic of sign language. Hazel would sometimes nod, say what he thought she meant, and would laugh with delight when he was right. This lasted about 5 minutes before Neo turned to Roman with a smiled. Roman sighed, held out his hand for Hazel, who gladly gave it a nice shake. "Pleasure to meet you too buddy."

Emerald giggled to herself at Roman's failure to act tough and then collected herself. "Now that introductions are out of the way, are we done here or can we bounce Cinder?"

Cinder shook her head. "Not until we find a solution to Roman's apparent conundrum."

Roman went serious again. "Well what do you want from me?! I'm the one out here in the front lines collecting dust and making it big with both my dashing skills and my dashing looks!" Roman flattered himself while Neo raised and lowered her eyebrows in delight. "But I can't just suddenly create a miracle solution out of thin air! I need new men or women looking to help me, not weaklings like these white fang! With them so thinly and so widely spread around the world it would be neigh impossible for me to fetch a few good men! What's a dashing rouge like me going to do? Not like I can suddenly find brand new lackeys coming on the wonderful train of sheer dumb luck whilst they're singing songs about how excited they are to work for me!"

Before Roman could continue his complaining, Cinder quickly moved Roman out of the way and aimed her bow and arrow. After a moment of aiming, she let her arrow fly out of the warehouse, only for her look of seriousness to be replaced with total shock as the arrow returned to her as quickly and shattered once it had hit the wall behind her. "What the-?!"

/////

Whistling could be heard throughout the land, and the source of it would be difficult to explain to any sane person. Who would believe someone rushing in, talking about some black demon on top of a pink robot whilst walking alongside a 3-foot tall skeleton whistling as having to children as they went along their merry way? No one, that's for sure. And yet, despite that, it was the truth. Zim happily enjoyed being on the back of B.D because it allowed him to quickly pick up Cinos and they could go for miles, either dashing at high speeds or slow at night when the 2 of them decide to rest, and B.D had absolutely no complaints, the weight wasn't an issue, and robots don't sleep, but they do tend to have a break and recharge, he does have a battery life of 3 days and so far it's been 2 weeks. To where they were headed, no one knew, and neither did they. All they knew was that they had to get there, and where is there not even there knew, but they knew they had to get there, somewhere, and wherever they were headed they assumed would be a lovely there, with either nature surrounding it, or a beautiful beach, or maybe a giant city awaited them there, but it did not matter the location, but rather the journey to there, wherever there may be, and arriving at there was no time consuming matter, their time was limitless when it came to traveling to there, they literally had all the time in the world to arrive there. But nonetheless, the basic gist of it was that they had to get there, despite their lack of directions and no sense of understanding where there was.

Zim stopped his whistling for just a moment. "How much farther until we get there B.D?"

"According to my system's calculations...IDFK."

"IDFK? What does that mean?"

"I don't think the folks over at Rooster Teeth would let me say it."

"Darn. I was really hoping to at least understand the time."

"Meh, but I'm sure we're getting close. Look! A garage! maybe they can point us in the right direction!"

"And if they can't?"

"IDK, get their autographs?"

"IDK? What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"So why did you say it?"

"Say what?"

"IDK."

"I don't know?"

"Yeah, so why did you say it?"

"Because I was telling you what it means."

"So what does IDK mean?"

"I don't know."

"We'll don't say it again until you know what it means!"

"But I do know what it means!"

"So what does it mean?"

"I don't know!"

"So you don't know what it means!"

"But I do!"

"But you're saying you don't know!"

"NO! I'm saying I don't know!"

"That's the same thing!"

"No it's not!"

"What does IDK mean?"

"I don't know!"

"So you don't know!"

"But I do!"

"But you keep insisting that you don't!"

"But I keep insisting and proving that I do!!"

"Just tell me what IDK stands for!"

"He stands for basic human rights and Trans rights last time I heard."

Zim was about to continue, but something shot him through his chest, causing Cinos to panic and fall over and B.D to be taken aback. An arrow now was stuck inside Zim's chest, which he playfully poked at. "Huh, well that's not something you see everyday." Zim pulled out the arrow and inspected it carefully before looking up to see 6 figures in front of him. "Hey! I think you dropped you uhh...Glass...Arrow...You should probably move onto wooden arrows, they're much more effective." With that, Zim tossed the arrow back at the figures, but missed and it shattered when it hit the wall behind one of them. "See how easily it broke?! Be careful next time, otherwise your stuff might break when you're not paying any attention!" Zim then turned back to B.D and Cinos. "Now...Where was I? Oh yeah! I forgot."

Cinos quickly got back up and got scared again, quickly notifying the gang that a bunch of soldiers were lining up in front of them.

"THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA. LEAVE OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO SHOOT!" Shouted one of the soldiers.

"OOO did you hear that B.D?" Zim asked. "They say that as if we planned to leave."

"Uh-oh...It's his serious face. Oh Christ it's his serious face!" B.D quivered. "Uh, HEY GUYS! YOU MIGHT WANNA FALL BACK, MY FRIEND HERE TENDS TO GET EXTREMLY VIOLENT WHEN HE'S SERIOUS FOR VERY QUESTIONABLE REASONS! SO, LIKE, HE'S A DEMON FROM HELL, AND-" But it was too late, and Zim was charging towards the group as they opened fire. "OH GOD! HANG ON CINOS!!" B.D quickly grabbed Cinos and began running for Zim, who held out his hand for B.D to grab. "So we really doing this?!"

"Do you think that these guys ever seen a demon before? Perhaps a Grimm, but have they ever seen a Grimm juggling dynamite?"

"Oh God we are so doing this..." B.D quickly grabbed a hold of Zim, who took of 5 of his fingers and quickly reformed them, and his detached fingers turned into burning sticks of dynamite. He began juggling them while standing on top of B.D head, as he raced to avoid the shower of bullets. "Where do you want us to drop you off?"

Zim smiled. "Yeet me."

B.D didn't hesitate, and took the demon by the hand and spun him around before tossing him into the fray, and as he whizzed passed the soldiers, he slammed the dynamite by their feet so inertia wouldn't be mean and ruin his fun. 

"Oops." He giggled to himself, as he crashed into the wall behind them, and they exploded right in front of him. B.D quickly ran for Zim, picking him out of the debris. "Now that was an act for the ages!"

"That was the craziest thing we did in the past 2 weeks!! We just committed murder!"

"Justified murder, they fired at us first."

"BECAUSE WE DIDN'T LEAVE! THEY GAVE US A CHOICE!"

"And we kindly declined their stupid choice system and said to hell with it and boom! Justified killing."

"BUT WE-" 

"ENOUGH!!" Cinder shouted, white fang member aiming their guns towards the 3 weirdos. "What are you and what do you want from us?"

Zim smiled his devilish grin, but it began to droop as he recognized the faces around the room. "Wait. Is that Roman...No, THE Roman Torchwick and his assistant Neapolitan?! One of the many greatest thieves known in history?!"

Roman was surprised. "You...Know us?"

"Hell doesn't forget those who commit deeds worthy of recording! You robbed dust shops all over vale, and you even started robbing dust shops elsewhere, earning you the name 'The wandering snatcher'! Or at least, where I'm from, and I certainly ain't from here." 

"And where the hell are you from anyways?" Mercury inquired.

Zim turned, and recognized 3 more faces. "Emerald Sustrai?! Mercury Black?! And by everything in my life!!! CINDER FALL!! These guys are the best of the best, part of the most infamous crime organization in the entirety of Remnant!!!"

"Wait, we're...?"

"Famous where you're from?" Emerald couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And, you're from...?"

"Hell my dear, the place where all the little sinners, putanas, idioti del cazzo, basically the bottom of the good boy list go when they kick the bucket. And all of you have a nice little spot in our form of paradise...except you..." Zim pointed at Hazel, walking towards him with a very interested look on his face. "Who are you?"

Hazel cleared his throat. "Hazel. H-Hazel Reinhart."

"Well, well, well, Hazel...Aren't you just the cutest little cinnamon roll in the history of cinnamon rolls! B.D! Check him out! He is the literal definition of swole, I mean look at your biceps buddy cause, wow! I bet you're a real womanizer!"

Hazel couldn't help but blush, and Cinder couldn't help but cringe. "Oh great, just my day. It's as stupid as you are Roman."

Zim sounded offended "Now now! I'm not that stupid! I prefer the term scholastically challenged, or that's just what Saxton keeps telling me to refer to it as because the R word is, as he puts it, really f**king awful. Not sure what it means but it makes me feel smart."

Cinder was right on the tipping point of losing it. "Ok. One of you explain what is going on or I will-"

Roman quickly pushed her away to shut her up. Maybe this was his one way ticket out of Cinder's pocket and back into his crime filled fun. "Welcome randos! What brings you here to our warehouse?"

Zim smiled. "Well we were just passing by. No seriously, we're just wandering around with no real place to go."

Cinder was absolutely about to blow. "You...Just killed a bunch of people, and the only reason you did that was because..?!?!"

"Meh, no real reason to. They started it."

Cinder was...broken, to be honest. But despite that, kept her cool. "Surely you have a place to arrive to, right? You didn't just come in here and..." Cinder soon realized that they weren't kidding. 

That's when Zim got a genius idea. "Wait!! Cinder, you're in charge of these guys right?"

"Right, I'm literally their boss."

B.D gave a smile on his monitor. "OOO! You hear that! She said their boss! You know what that means?"

Zim beamed with excitement. "It means were unemployed!"

"EXACTLY!" And the both of them nodded their heads in agreement, confusing everyone in the room. 

Mercury decided to break the awkwardness. "You wanna join us?"

"Not sure. What's the line of work you guys do nowadays? Just making sure nothing much changed ever since I was broken out of my hellish paradise." Zim responded. 

"We steal stuff and make a profit off of it. It's fun and you get to hang out with amazing people." Emerald answered honestly. 

Zim pondered, walking around. "I might need to contact my job adviser on this. B.D!"

B.D nodded. "BRB." Zim quickly dug through the debris to find a chair and extended it to a lounge chair and proceeded to lay upon it, while B.D grabbed one of the chairs around the warehouse and sat in it. Zim then grabbed one of his spare bottles of ink and gave it a good shake, then tossed it to B.D. He opened the bottle and the ink formed into a notebook and pencil with a sharpener and eraser. 

Zim took a deep breath and collapsed, placing one hand onto his forehead and the other hanging off the chair. "Doc! I found a job that commits crime and it's evil and cruel!"

B.D nodded, scribbling inside his notebook. "Well, is it fun?"

Zim pondered, taking one finger and cartoonishly rubbing the underside of his chin, which B.D examined closely and scribbled something down into the notebook. "Well...I heard I'll make great friends and they sound like they pay well! Plus I really like hanging out with that one in the white suit. And the big guy looks extremely polite!"

Hazel decided to attempt to play along and came close to B.D and whispered into his ear. "It's true. Both the rates and the kindness." B.D gave a soft smile on his monitor and scribbled something down. 

Zim then looked up at B.D. "Well doc!? What do you say I should do?!"

B.D looked down at his notebook and showed it to Zim and the others. Inside was a game of tic-tac-toe, where x's won. "I won against myself...SO HELL YEAH BOY!"

Zim got up from his seat in excitement. "THEN IT'S SETTLED! I shall go and inform my brand new boss of my decision!" Zim then took the chair and merged it back into ink and into his body. Then he walked up to Cinder and, before a word could come out of his mouth, Cinder quickly placed her hand on his, silencing the ink demon.

"Yeah yeah I get the picture. But before you do anything else I need you need to-"

Zim removed her hand and smiled. "Oh this is going to be such fun! Just me, you, and the skeleton! The best comedy trio ever since America, France and Britain!" Zim quickly took off his fingers to form 3 buttons, each with the flag of each nation he mentioned. He gave himself America, B.D France, and Cinos received Britain. "You get Britain because you look dead inside and probably don't have a soul!" Cinos looked sad for a moment. "You have a gigantic Navy and everyone is afraid of you currently. Except France. He kind of handed your butt to you in the span of 7 years. But you get a rematch with me and him in the revolutionary war technically!" Cinos looked towards B.D and cracked his knuckles, sending shivers down his servos. But none of that sent more shivers down anyone else's spines than Cinder's outrage. 

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE!!!"

Zim, Cinos, and B.D's faces went blank, and Zim wiped a sweat droplet from his brow. "Oh...Right...We probably should get that situated. Ok, from the top!"

/////

Cinder attempted to take in everything she just heard. It sounded completely unbelievable, yet knowing how her world worked it probably was the truth. Multiple universes? Shapeshifting ink demons? Robot created in the 80's? Skeletons who's only purpose is to lift spirits? Yeah that sounded ridiculous, but to Cinder she had, or at least she convinced herself she had, seen much weirder things in her life. But through the weirdness came the surprising amount of knowledge the 3 of them possessed. They know of the eldritch evolution, they were literally there when it was both created and unleashed into the world. They know of Ruby Rose and her friends, they know of Beacon academy, they know of the battle between grimm and hunters and huntresses. And to just make matters even more confusing, they tend to twist their knowledge in a way that it makes no sense. They call Salem mommy salami or something like that, and to top it all off, they're perfectly fine joining a crime organization for reasons unknown to her. A decision had to come quick, and she had to be the one to call it. Let them stay? They would be excellent help considering Zim's shapeshifting abilities and B.D's flexibility and speed. But the downside is they bring with them a skeleton that's mute (Because of course she needed another mute in her life) and they could be spies sent from Ozpin to screw with her plans. But they're incredibly idiotic, so maybe they aren't. But they're incredibly chaotic, so maybe they are. She couldn't come to a decision, so she had to pull off a risky idea. "We'll leave this to popular vote. Raise your hand if you believe that they should join us."

Every single person raised their hand, with Roman and Neo raising both hands as high as they could. Cinder face palmed herself. She should've seen this coming. Roman got up from his seat and grabbed Zim's hand and gave it a good shake. "Welcome to the team! Trust me when I say this, you're going to have a blast here!"

B.D got up from his seat and patted Zim on the back. "Hey! Do we get some cool nickname like everyone does in Beacon?"

"NO." Cinder quickly snapped.

"Do we get t-shirts?" Zim asks.

"NO."

"How much do we get paid?"

"You don't."

"What are our vacation times?" B.D asks.

"You don't have any."

"When's lunch?" Mercury perked up.

"When's our break?" Emerald asks.

"Can we actually get paid, with actual money please?" Roman asks, Neo seconding.

"What health care bonuses do we get anyways?" Hazel asks.

"Can we have tenure?" B.D questions.

"Can we have maternity leave?" Zim asks.

"But you're male!" B.D remarks. 

"Shhh! She doesn't know that yet!"

"Everyone back to work...NOW!!" Cinder demanded. Everyone ran in different directions, all except Emerald and Mercury, who awaited instructions. "For now, keep an eye on those 3 new recruits. I don't want anything bad to come out from them." With a nod from the both of them, they both left to keep their watchful eyes on them. 

Zim was with B.D and Cinos was with Hazel. Zim quickly opened up a map made from his ink and looked it over with B.D with a gleeful smile. "Our first order of business is to rob this specific place right here! By doing so, I bet we can earn ourselves a spot in Cinder's good side. Here's what I came up with in the quick span of 30 minutes while we were getting introductions out of the way. So I devised this plan to infiltrate this dust shop by digging a hole through the middle of it using spoons we steal from Beacon academy. Then we take the dust and we make a huge profit out of it! Any questions?"

B.D gave a very unamused look on his monitor. "Spoons?"

Zim looked back at his plan and frowned. "Well that's all I had. What about you Mr. Roboto? Got anything?"

B.D looked over the map and used the eraser he got from Zim and erased the spoons part of the plan, then taking the pencil he had, he wrote down "Break through the front entrance."

Zim smiled. "That's...GENIUS! It'll be the perfect first heist to prove ourselves, and I bet we can do it! Just the 2 of us, takin' on the world like the bad*sses we are!"

B.D was happy but concerned. "But this is pretty extreme, don't you think? Why exactly did we agree to this? We're about to commit a serious crime, what if Ruby finds out?"

Zim's expression went blank. "Crap. I didn't actually think that far." 

Emerald held back her laughter as best as she could, while Mercury covered both their mouths. B.D once again gave an unamused face. "What are we gonna do then? Why exactly did you agree to this?"

Zim smiled, placing the plan into his pocket. "Exploration, unemployment, friends, name it, it's a good enough reason for me!"

B.D went blank himself. "Wait. You agreed to join this madhouse...FOR NO GOOD REASON?!" 

"Nope! I didn't join for no good reason, I joined for every reason possible! But I'm guessing you want my honest answer...Isn't that right Emerald? Mercury?"

Emerald and Mercury were surprised, but came out of hiding anyways. No point in hiding anymore when you're found out. Emerald looked towards Zim with a curious look. "So? What's your reasoning?"

Zim shooed away B.D, and B.D nodded. He always respected people's personal spaces, which was always Zim's favorite part about the robot. Once B.D left the room, Zim turned and sighed. "The honest truth is...I don't know."

Mercury didn't even know where to begin with his initial reaction. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know. Jackal always keeps telling me and the boys that destiny drives us to do what destiny so desires." As he began saying this, his formed changed into Jackal, but the eyes were still cartoony and the voice was still the same, which threw both Emerald and Mercury off. "Everything happens for a reason. So i guess this is destiny's way of guiding me down the right path. And thus, it's destiny's fault I agreed to join you guys. As for my reasoning: I don't know." Zim then changed back to his original self, but this time Emerald noticed a small devil's tail swaying from behind the table that holds the map.

Emerald shook her head. "Jackal? You mean the God from Vacuo?"

"HA! You still fall for that lie? He's from a faraway land known as Egypt, it's located in an entirely different universe. Well...Once a universe. Now it's nothing more than dead, blown to bits, ashes to ashes, space dust to space dust. Poor Jackal, he's going through so much so quickly. Thank the lords above he isn't doing something crazy like joining the grimm's side or something, cause what if Ruby were to find out?"

Emerald and Mercury gave each other a concerned look. They could see from the devilish grin that he knew more than what he lead on. "So uhh...What's with that plan of yours?" Mercury began.

"Oh? This bad boy right here is amazing!" Zim began to explain his plan, right down to the time and place and even bird positions he predicted would be there on the day of the robbery. Emerald and Mercury began to invest themselves into this plan. Emerald noticed as he was talking the tail was gone.

Mercury then got an idea. "Mind if we tag along?"

Zim nodded. "The more the merrier! Cinder would be so impressed by our skills!"

Emerald looked down in embarrassment. "Well...It's complicated with her."

"Meh, Whatevs! But that's enough day dreaming, let's get to robbing innocent people and get rich off of it!!"

With a huge yeah from the 3 of them, B.D was excited, hearing the yeah from halfway into the warehouse.

//////

A plan was made, and it was carefully crafted to be done perfectly. The robot continued to squirm inside it's room of wires and walls with paint barely hanging on. 

"H E L L o kids! Don't be afraid, it's just L I t t L e Old mE!" Isic says by himself.

"D-D-DOn't forget me silly! Who could possibly forget the COOOOOOmEdy duo of.."

"hEre it comes!"

"J A A A A A A A"

"And Iiiii…" The machine went silent. And as quickly as it went silent, it jerked to a standby position. Jackal continued to watch from afar. Ever since he met his 9 friends, he had a plan for all of them. Each one, he foresaw their destinies, and he knew the destiny of this one. 

"Tomorrow...I shall deal with you tomorrow. You've suffered long enough..."


	19. The Sun God's sacrafice

"Nora...What exactly are you doing?"

"Making pancakes! What does it look like I'm doing?"

"...Not making pancakes? Also please stop pouring the flour. I think that's more than enough."

"Are you sure? Cause it seems to me that I need just a tad bit-"

"YES. That is more than enough Nora."

"Whatever you say Ren." Nora then stopped pouring the flour, leaving a huge mountain of the stuff on top of the counter. Ren began to reflect what life decisions had come to him in order to see how Nora made her pancakes, and 2 questions had finally been answered. Well, they would be, if he wasn't so confused. He now understood where all the flour went, and he was wondering how she always was able to clean the kitchen extremely well, and the second being how she made her pancakes, but this was nowhere close to how they're supposed to be made. It made zero sense on how she got it almost right the first time, but how did she get this far off now of all times? 

"Nora, I just...What's the next thing you do?"

"Well, I then grab the dough I previously made and flatten it out. Then..." Nora took out some dough and flattened it onto the counter, flour spilling all over the floor. After that mess was finished. She then took the dough and placed it into a pan-mold, placed it into the oven, then set the timer and heat. "...We play the waiting game! What cha' wanna do?"

Ren could only stare in amazement at what events had just unfolded. "What just happened? That was...Torturous. That wasn't even close to how you're supposed to make pancakes, what are you even making at this point Nora?"

"Well...I did say I was making pancakes."

"But those aren't panca-" It hit him, like a train going at exactly 200mph. The realization hurt, but it was quite obvious, although it was stupid, like Ren standing still, getting hit by a train going at exactly 200mph. "Pan...Cakes..." Ren repeated as he slowly crumpled up into a ball onto the sofa. It was such a small detail, yet understanding Nora, he should've seen it, and yet he was too blinded by his hope of Nora that he barely realized what Nora was thinking in that wild mind of her's. The realization was intense, like getting hit by a train going OK you get the point. 

"Uhh...Ren? You ok?" Nora asked. All Ren could do was groan softly, until he turned to face Nora from the couch and sighed.

"Nora, how exactly did you almost get it right the first time and did...THIS, the second time?"

"Well, I just thought to myself one day 'HEY! You know what would be so cool? If these bad boys were made like actual cakes. Cause they're just so small, so if I bake them like cakes then they'll be super sized! Genius right?"

Ren thought for a moment, sinking back into the sofa. Nora went silent and her smiled slowly deteriorated into a frown as she joined Ren on the sofa. "Is something wrong?"

"Pfft! WHAT? Something wrong with me? Nah, I'm having a blast, the pancakes going to be huge and scrumptious and we're going to have huge bellies like they have in the cartoons and-"

"NORA." Ren spoke sternly, making Nora jump a bit. "Out of all things that you are, you're not a very good liar. What's wrong?"

Nora then began to sink into the sofa. "Well, I mean, it's just that...I wanted to make something new and special and exciting and I thought you might like it and now I see you..." Nora's voice drifted away. 

Ren then placed his hand onto Nora's shoulder. "Nora, it may not be the right way of making it, but that doesn't mean I hate it or anything. It's just something new to me. I think it's extremely strange, but who knows if it'll taste good?"

"So wait, you don't think my idea's stupid or anything like that? You think it's great?!"

"I didn't say anything like that but sure, let's go with that."

"Heh...Wow, that took a lot of pressure off my shoulders."

Ren then quickly took his hand off of Nora's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. If I was grabbing your shoulder so tightly, you could've told me sooner." 

"What? Oh! No I meant, pfft." Nora bursted into laughter. Ren was confused and thought for a moment, then realized what was so funny and joined in with Nora. _I guess today will be a good day._ Nora thought, as now Ren and her shall play the waiting game for the Pan-Cake. 

/////

"Ok, so this is going to be extremely complicated, so just work with me for a bit, please?" Jackal begged. 

Isic looked upwards, one of his eyes becoming lazy until it quickly gave a stare towards Jackal. "Sure, anything for a friend!"

"Exactly!" Jack jumped in "Anything for a ffffriend!."

Jackal sighed. "Now listen you two, this is extremely important, and since you two are the only ones I could reach to get help for at the time, you're going to have to do. Understood?"

"U N D E R S T O O D!!" 

"Take this piece of paper and go to these coordinates at this specified time, Ok?" Jackal handed a small slip of paper with detailed instructions of a jumper ring and it's coordinates. On the back it read 3:27 PM. 

Isic and Jack stared blankly at the slip, their eyes darting from on part of the paper to the other before slowly lifting their heads to face Jackal. "Don't worry Jackal, we'll be O v Er there on the d-d-dot! Not a millisecond eeeee-early-early nor late!" 

Jackal stared at the robots, who had resorted to standing still and had begun staring blankly at the wall in front of them as they waited for the time to come. He then slowly backed out of the room, tossed the jumper ring, and walked away. 

"Is something wrong?" A voice asked. Jackal realized he had sent himself to Salem's domain in his attempt to leave the awkward situation. Salem was at the door about to leave the room.

"Nothing. Nothing at..." Jackal paused and smiled. "Heh, it's been a while since I have been in here with you. Glad to see the interior decorating hasn't changed a bit."

Salem smiled. "Glad to see you haven't changed at all yourself. You seem...scared to be within my vicinity."

Jackal pondered for a moment. "I have reasons to be, my true Goddess. Something important I must discuss with you."

"And that being?"

"I have figured out a plan in order to solve our issue. To reset the universe to our liking, we just need to..." Jackal looked at Salem much more carefully. Something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Jackal?" Salem asked. Jackal quickly pulled out his book and flipped to Salem's story, there he found something peculiar in the corner. 

"I should've known! You're one of them!"

"One of them?" Salem asked, readying herself for combat if necessary.

"You're XXI-The World! You're one of the major arcana!"

"Jackal, explain." 

"According to the book, each person was assigned a tarot card, 52 minor and 22 major. The minor would help guide the major in mysterious ways, always beneficial and never negative, but the major have a special property. The relics allow us to call forth the Gods of light and darkness, creation and destruction, and with them the universe resets. But destiny has other plans for them, because if we can find and gather all 22 of the major arcana, we can rewrite history, restart the universe, save everyone from their torment and create our utopia without the use of the relics. We just need their presence all together with one another, then we could begin the ritual. No more pointless fighting, we just have to play the game of defend the castle. Keep the relics separated or within our grasp. As long as we have even one of them, the mortals can't call on the Gods to ruin our plan, and you, my Goddess, are one of the major arcana we need!"

"And how exactly do you know this?"

Jackal presented his book. "This book is known as the book of lost dreams, it tells me the story I'm thinking of at the time and it tells me how it ends, but not how we get there. But when I think of your stories, the major arcana shows in the corner of the book! Not only that, but it seems that major arcana can sense other major arcana when in their presence."

"But, that would mean..."

Jackal flipped the book until he reached his story. "I'm XIX-The Sun. Ruby is XVIII-The moon. You are XXI-The World. We now know 3 of the major arcana. We just need to find 19 more and we have our express ticket to victory."

"Do you have a plan for hunting these arcana?"

"Unfortunately, blindly searching through the book and walking around is our only hope. If only..."

/////

"See! It's perfectly fine. No explosions, no fires, nothing! Just a delicious, mouth-watering Pan-Cake!" Nora says as she quickly steps and puts out a small fire beneath her. Turns out there are a lot more flammable objects in a kitchen than Nora originally thought. Those included oven mittens apparently. "Don't you want to take a bite out of this thing?'

Ren could only stare behind Nora at the mess behind her. Flour was everywhere, batter was scattered all over the walls, and no sign of a towel anywhere to his surprise. But reluctantly, he sat down at the table, laid down a napkin on his lap, and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Nora looked back at the Pan-Cake she made and felt a little uneasy. She placed it onto the table and cut Ren a small slice and placed it onto his plate. "E-enjoy!" Nora blurted out.

Ren carefully inspected the Pan-Cake on his plate. It looked just like a cake, but also had the coloring of a pan...cake. Ren poked at it with his fork. It wasn't too moist to be broken easily, yet it was soft enough that he wouldn't feel like chewing on a burnt piece of toast thankfully. Ren then sniffed at his food, and it was incredibly wonderful, much to his surprise. It didn't smell burnt, thank gods, and it didn't smell awful either. It smelled nice, like a true breakfast would smell , with a hint of sweetness. But came Ren's most feared part: the taste test. He picked up the food and took one bite out of it. Nora scrunched up a bit at the bite, afraid of the reaction. Ren chewed and swallowed, seemingly reflecting on what he just digested. Nora shivered, but stopped when she noticed a smile slowly growing on Ren's face. Ren turned to Nora. "I like it."

Nora screamed with such delight, running around cheering herself off as Ren covered his ears at the loud noise. "YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!! HELL YEAH!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"N-NORA! I THINK THAT'S A BIT TOO LOUD!!" Ren shouted.

"Oops, sorry Ren, I'm just so glad that...Yes! You actually like it! W-wait! Don't hog it all to yourself! I want some too!"

/////

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything my Goddess." Watts walked through the door into the dining hall right as Jackal had finished speaking. 

"Not at all. What have you learned so far about Atlas' defenses?"

"More than enough. I have actually learned more about myself in this adventure of knowledge and I have upgraded my rings to instantly destroy any form of technology I so desire. Or hack it to my liking."

"Destroy any form of technology you say?" Jackal asked. 

"Why? Skeptical?"

"Very." Jackal stated bluntly.

Salem lifted her hand for silence. "By any chance do you have anything to test your skepticism?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Jackal reassured. He walked to the end of the table in front of Watts and held out a small toy powered by an electric motor. It occasionally made a small clinking sound as it continued to clash its tambourines together and do a small jump as It did. "Can your rings decimate this?"

Watts giggled, then his giggles turned to laughter, and soon his laughter into an uproar, and he would've fallen onto the floor if he didn't have an image to protect. "Oh please. Watch."

/////

"That was incredibly delicious Nora. Thank you so much for that."

"Well, you know me. Go big or go home am-I-right?" 

"And you certainly went big. Apologies if I made you uncomfortable at first."

"Meh, it's all in the past now. I'm just glad you enjoyed it!"

"Yeah...But I won't enjoy cleaning up this me-"

Nora quickly ran towards Ren and covered his mouth, then began petting his head. "Shhhh...Just ignore it and let the good times roll. No need to worry about anything at all, it's only 3:00 o' clock right now, and it's time for resting and relaxing."

/////

"WE HAVE ARR-" Isic and Jack shouted as they exited the jumper ring's portal. They had arrived at their destination right on time. But they froze, their circuits burned and their mainframe malfunctioned right as they left. Soon, not a word was spoken, and they both collapsed onto the ground. The only sound that remained of them was a small puff as smoke emerged from their bodies as they slowly died.

"WHAT THE-?!" Watts shouted. Salem stood up and watched in total shock at the events that just unfolded in front of her. Jackal looked blankly at the dead robot in front of him and crushed the toy he held and opened his hand as the broken toy turned into sand and fell to the floor.

"Ok, calm down, calm down. It was a necessary evil, you did what needed to be done..." Jackal whispered to himself, emotion void from his words.

"Who the hell is this?!" Watts demanded to know.

"Their names are Isic and Jack, robots from another universe where it was just a scrap yard planet where metal and all things forgotten and worthless were left to rot. Consider what you did a mercy killing. They suffered for too long anyways."

"I don't even know where to begin! You planned this? You knew my upgrades were going to work?! And you wanted to kill this thing because reasons?!"

"I wanted to kill this 'thing' because it was the saddest example of the worst kind of existence, an existence to where you can only compare it to a worthless pile of junk, and all it ever does is suffer and all you can do is watch from afar, deep down you want to just spare it from anymore pain but you can't because it's another life and you can't just kill something like that and yet here we are and please give me a moment." Jackal sat on one of the chairs in the room, head in his hands as he tried to asses what just occurred.

"Wait...This is the first time you ever killed something."

"No. Just that it's been a long time since I had done something like this." Jackal swallowed hard, then collected his thoughts. "I...I need to kill all my fellow universe jumpers here. When they die, their souls will remain here, and thus with the universe restart, I could fix them. I can fix my mistakes, my regrets. I need you to head for Atlas to..."

"To...What? What's with the stare?" Watts looked at his Goddess, who was also staring at him curiously. "Ok is there something on my face, can anyone tell me what's so weird about me today?!" 

Salem quickly turned for the book, opening it and finding Watts in the book, and on the corners..."What is this?"

Jackal gasped. "IX-The Hermit! He's another one!" 

"ANOTHER WHAT?!" Watts raised his voice, only to clear his throat and apologise to his Goddess. 

"It's fine, great actually."

Jackal nodded in agreement. "The major arcana are 22 people around Remnant, and with them all together we can reset the universe without the use of the Gods or the relics!" 

Watts was amazed. "And I happen to be one of them...HA! So I assume you 2 are also part of this arcana thingy?"

"We have knowledge of 4, which includes a red hooded girl named Ruby that's currently in Beacon, Salem, you, and me. With 4 down, we just need 18 more to find. Perhaps you can go hunting around Atlas to find our targets, it should be obvious to find them if you hang around them long enough."

Watts went wide eyed. "Wait, I see it too, this weird aura around you 2! It's colorful and bright, how did I not notice before?"

Salem came to a conclusion. "It probably only works when we think about it. Since none of us had a clue on this subject, none of us would have thought about it, and thus we wouldn't notice the aura."

"So find the shimmering person and kidnap them. Already on it."

Jackal whistled for Watts' attention and tossed him a small vial with a label on it that read 'EE-021'. "Got you your sample."

Watts smiled. "Then let's get to work. I do believe I'm still fetching that relic for you my Goddess?"

"Correct." Salem handed Watts a briefcase holding a seer inside. "Seeing as your new upgrades can disable technology, if you can disable all of Atlas' defenses, then we can have a fun time bringing it burning down with James inside. Jackal can then use his jumper ring and pick you up, and Atlas shall be let down not so gently onto the town below." 

"Before you ask, as much as it would benefit me to take the relic for myself simply by using my ring for easy access, I'm forced by the rules of the elder ones. I cannot touch the relics, as that would be an illegal form of changing this universe's destiny, nor am I allowed to directly help you get to the relic. However, I am allowed to interact with the mortals of this universe, and I'm allowed to help you get back, I'm just not allowed to lay a finger on the relic nor give you a two way ticket to and from the relic."

Watts looked confused. "So touching the relic is a no-go, but murder..."

"It wouldn't change this universe's destiny. If I am to kill someone, someone else would just take their spot. It would only change the way the story is told, but the destiny would still be the same. Me laying my hands on the relic would change this universe's destiny, but killing someone like Ruby wouldn't change the universe's destiny, it would only change her individual fate, which I'm fully capable of since I'm not from this universe, thus I'm not bound by it's destiny. It's the law of the elder ones, so if you have a problem with it, I highly suggest you take it up with them."

"Ok, ok I get that, but you knew I would do all of this? The upgrades and the exact place and time I would do all of that just to kill your friend down there?"

Jackal pulled out a small book from his robe and gave it a few soft taps. "This is what's known as the book of lost dreams. It tells me how a story begins, what has happened as the story progresses, and how it shall end. But something only we know Is it tells me every type of story. Even individual stories." Jackal looked towards the broken robot in front of him, lifeless and rusted. "The only other person who knows of this is my closest friend Cris. But I know how a person was born, their story thus far, and how they'll die. I used the book to learn of your little upgrade, then used the knowledge of their cause of death and time of death and location of death and...you put the pieces together." 

Watts was amazed, and somewhat terrified at the fact that this God knew how and when he'll die. "Who's Cris?"

"A friend from work. One of the many universe jumpers out there. There's a total of 10 of them, including me. But since I'm sided with you, and well..." Jackal shook his head. "He's dead, that leaves us with only 7 more to kill. Their all destined to meet their fate here, and we are destined to restart this world. With them out of the way, we can go grab the relic, find all 22 major arcana, restart the universe and boom! A perfect reality is reached. Any questions?" 

Watts gave a soft smile. Just the thought of getting back at James was a dream come true. "Sounds good enough for me. But...7?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You said 7. But there's 10 of you. You and the robot make 2. 2 + 7 = 9."

"Umm...well..." 

Salem intervened. "It's...complicated." Jackal gave a very embarrassed blush and a nasty stare at Salem.

Watts took a few moments to think, then facepalmed himself. "Oh my God."

"WHY IS EVERYONE HERE SO JUDGEMENTAL?!?! IT'S NOT THAT MUCH OF AN ISSUE, I JUST THINK HE'S INTERESTING AND QUITE POSSIBLY CUTE AND-"

"Wait, it's a boy too?!"

"DON'T PULL THAT ON ME YOU MUSTACHE-WEARING الأبله!"

Watts cracked up, and after collecting himself and wiping his tears, he looked towards Salem. "Very well my Goddess. Anything else before I take my 6 week vacation?"

"Have fun in Atlas." Salem joked.

"I tell Tyrian the same." Watts concluded, and left. 

"And what do you plan on doing with your friend?" Salem inquired Jackal.

Jackal looked at the robot and quivered. He gave his head a hard shake. "The same thing I must do with the rest of the universe jumpers." He pulled out his scimitar and sliced and diced Isic and Jack's body into several pieces, gathering his bits and pieces and, using his sand, created a mummy servant with a bag. "Take this and hand it to Watts. There isn't much value in it, but I'm sure one man's trash is another man's treasure." The mummy nodded, and begun collecting the pieces. Once all was said and done, Jackal placed the scimitar away and looked at Salem with a cold stare. His body looked hunched and tired, and his eyes looked scared. "There's no turning back now."

Salem could see clearly the fear in his eyes, and thought of something peculiar. "Do you want to see something...interesting?" 

/////

Ren sighed as he finished cleaning the kitchen and then left for the bedrooms. "Well, I'm going to meditate. Thank you once again for the delicious food Nora." Ren waited for a response, then realized that Nora was dizzy from all the food she ate. 

"Heheh..." Nora quietly laughed to herself. "Best....day...ever..."


	20. Episode 1: Robby Robbery

The night sky blanketed the realm of Vale in darkness, and the only sources of light being the light posts and the stars above. But the streets were empty, no sounds played throughout the usually bustling streets, not ever since the Grimm issue becoming much more serious than before. With the Grimm becoming much more powerful rapidly, people were forced to stay indoors during the night. But the only 2 people that stood outside were 2 guards just outside of a dust shop, labeled "The dusty corner". 

"Damn Grimm, If it weren't for them, nightshift wouldn't make me feel so uneasy." One guard says to the other. 

"Hey, it'll be fine Jim. Calm yourself, nothing too serious is going to happen tonight."

"And how do you know that Stephens? What if something serious does happen? What if another one of those thieves show up? What if Roman shows up?!"

Stephens then raised his sword and gave Jim a look. Jim then understood and nodded. But a young woman began walking towards them, cladded in a green cloak. The 2 guards readied their swords. "Young lady!" Stephens shouted. "Please show us your identification papers."

The woman stopped and quickly tossed something their way, and before any of them knew, they both were blinded with a strange powder. Holding back her laughter, Emerald smiled as both guards were knocked out by a well placed smack by both B.D and Zim. 

Zim then gave the O-K signal with his hand. "It's showtime!" He whispered. 

B.D then slowly opened the door, its creaking sound echoing throughout the shop. "Ok...dramatic entrance!" Suddenly, B.D leapt outwards into the store with a monster look on his monitor, a bag in one hand, and an inflatable knife in the other. He quickly tied a bandana around his eyes as to protect his identity and shouted "OK!! PUT THE MONEY. IN. THE BAG! PUT IT IN!!" 

Mercury facepalmed himself. "We're robbing them of dust. Also, you're facing the wrong way."

"Oh, thank you." B.D then turned 180 degrees. "Ok lemme just, ahem. PUT IT IN!!" 

The inflatable knife was pointed at Zim, who screeched as he raised his hands in the air. "Please! Don't hurt me! I have no wife nor kids, and I'm pretty sure absolutely no one would miss me!" 

"B-but I would miss you..."

"T-that voice! Could it be?!" Zim was shocked when B.D removed the bandana from his eyes and revealed his monitor. "B.D?! How could you?!"

"Meh, was bored on a Saturday so I thought 'hey, what's cooler than sitting alone in a room than robbing people in a different room?' and I thought that would be a pretty fun idea."

"And Indeed it is B.D. Indeed it is." 

"Well, I better be going. Got a store to rob."

"Hey, have a good one buddy!"

"Same to you sir!" B.D and Zim both shook hands and left in different directions, leaving themselves along with Mercury and Emerald in utter confusion. 

Mercury attempted to process what had just happened, but found himself at a lack of words, and Emerald just began shoving some dust into a small bag she took with her. but the moment she began shoving the dust in, she heard a thump right behind her. Then another, and 3 more followed behind. She quickly turned around and found 5 bags behind her, and then a 6th bag being shoved along with the others. Zim and B.D gave a huge sigh as they caught their breaths. Zim looked at Emerald and smiled. "Well come on slow poke! We already have half the store gone and you barely have a single bag full."

Emerald simply stared at the 2 and rolled her eyes. "Why do I even bother?"

Zim was beaming with happiness as he shoved another bag into the pile. "Just wait till Cin-Cin sees all our hard work. The look on her face will be priceless!"

B.D responded back. "Yeah! Not as priceless as that guy's face right now!"

"B.D! That guy has a name you know! I know 'Manager' is a weird name but please show some respect!" 

As quick as lightning, Mercury and Emerald got up and drew their weapons. A young man was standing in front of them, in total shock at everything around him. Mercury smirked. "I would just walk away if I were you. Good people tend to die so young these days, y' know?" 

But the man didn't move, but rather continued to tremble in fear as he pointed to a small button on his shirt. B.D quickly dashed to the man, causing him to jump back in fear, and read the button. "Please be patient with me, I'm deaf." 

Zim was giggling to himself. "Don't worry, I've dealt with deaf people all the time at the circus, I got this." Zim went towards the man and grabbed B.D and played with a dial on the front of his head. B.D showed pictures of a thief as Zim pointed at himself, then B.D showed a picture of dust, as Zim pointed at the bags, and finally B.D showed a picture of money, and Zim shrugged. 

The man began to tremble less, and spoke quietly. "I don't have much to give...Please, just don't hurt me."

Zim smiled as he shook his head no. He messed with B.D once more, showing a picture of a price tag and then pointed at the bags. 

The man was confused. "A-all of it?" He asked quietly. Zim nodded. The man was wide eyed. "L-let me go g-get my calculator." As the man turned around and left for his office. 

Mercury was shocked. "Well...that takes care of that problem."

Emerald slowly placed her gun away. "A shame. Really wanted to bust a few caps into someone tonight."

The store bell rang, causing everyone to turn around and see a man wearing a brown trench coat stepping into the store. He was big, looked tough, with a scruffy, unkept beard and pants that were baggy and boots that were worn out. Zim and B.D quickly ran for the cash register, looking as innocent as they could. "Welcome! How may we assist you? We sell magazines, food, random sh*t you don't need. Unfortunately we are out of stock for dust, sooo…" 

The man laughed. "Don't worry, I can already see you've packed up the rest of the dust just for me." 

"For you? Did you make a preorder earlier?"

"Names Ruth, Ruth Cane." Ruth responded, pulling out a small box. 

"Awesome! Name's Zim, Zim Daxter. This here is B.D!"

"Sup."

"Over there is Emerald and that angsty one is Mercury."

Ruth gave a small laugh as he opened the box and pulled out a small, black brick of tobacco and began chewing it. "Pleasure to meet you all, but I'm in a mighty fine hurry, so if you don't mind, I'll be taking my dust and be on my merry way. Sound good?"

"Uhhh...we actually mind quite a bit, so if you don't mind, we'll just be on our merry-" Ruth quickly pulled out his weapon and fired it at Zim, causing him to fly backward into the wall, causing the glass containers that once held dust break and scatter onto the ground. Ruth took his weapon and blew away the smoke, the shotgun shrapnel piercing and sticking out of Zim's ink. 

"Her names' Dee, and this one's name is Dum." Ruth pulled out another shotgun, Dee with her blocky look, like something from the scrapyard, and although the majority of her was as brown as Ruth's coat, she could be seen with faint traces of yellow and red paint spelling out her name on the bottom of the gun, while Dum looked exactly the same. "Anyone else wanna go a round or 2?"

"Hell yeah I do." Mercury responded, quickly dashing towards Ruth, dodging every shotgun fire. But before Mercury could land a hit on him, Ruth spat the tobacco out of his mouth onto Mercury's face, blinding him, then he thwacked Mercury with the back side of his shotgun, knocking Mercury back. Mercury quickly wiped the tobacco from his eyes and looked pissed.

"Heh! Sorry fella, but I couldn't just keep it in me for too long."

Mercury grew frustrated, as he charged again and continued his confrontation with Ruth as Emerald ran behind Ruth and began unloading her shots into his back. But Ruth simply laughed, and grabbed Mercury by his leg. "Sorry darling, but this bad boy's flexible titanium! Built it myself!" Ruth threw Mercury, and Emerald caught him.

"My knight in shining armor." Mercury said sarcastically.

Emerald dropped Mercury. "Oops, sorry. I guess I'm still getting used to carrying trash."

"You haven't even landed a single hit on him yet."

"Neither have you."

Ruth gave a huge laugh. "HOHOHO! I suggest you kiddies get along now, before I end up breaking more than your pride." 

Zim stood up from his crash as B.D assisted him. He quickly shook off all the glass and shotgun shrapnel and looked towards the chaos that ensued. "B.D, looks like we got ourselves a battle on our hands."

"A feisty one, ain't he?"

"You know what that means?"

"I should go inform Mr. Manager about our issue?"

"You mean the deaf guy that's extremely shy?"

"...Yes?"

Zim and B.D stared at each other for a moment. "EXACTLY!" and with a nod, B.D ran to inform the manager, while Zim cocked his hat foreword. "Alright, showtime!" He jumped onto the counter and gave a loud whistle, catching Ruth's attention. "Hey fatso! How about you pick on someone your own size?!" 

Ruth looked towards Zim and looked confused. Then he began bawling in laughter. "Listen little shrimp. I understand you trying to act tough, but please. You're about half my height!" 

Zim smiled, and Emerald gasped. The tail returned. "Well, you know what they say, the bigger they are..." And with a twirl, Zim changed his form to that of Ruby Rose, her sniper pointed right at Ruth as he pulled the trigger. Ruth quickly turned to block the attack with his coat, which worked, but the blast was so powerful it sent him flying into the ground. "The faster they die." Ruth quickly got up and blocked Zim's attack, Ruby's scythe being sharp and his movements quick. Ruth was now dealing with 3 threats, one too many to handle. 

B.D quickly found the manager, who had finished writing the price on a small slip of paper. The manager jumped in surprise and fear, but B.D reassured him. He began showing pictures on his monitor, explaining the whole situation. The manager was speechless. "W-what are we going to do?! My grandfather's shop is going to go down in ruins!" B.D cocked his head to the side. "My grandfather, when he passed, passed down his shop to me. I was more than happy to take it, I was cut and fit for the job. Being deaf never stopped me, but now with this Grimm thing driving sales down and the fact that there's some rampaging maniac outside, what am I going to do?!?!" B.D pondered, then noticed something strange. He pointed behind the manager a ladder that lead really high up to the building. "Oh, that. It leads to the roof, I usually go there to fix any of the lights that might burn out. Grampa taught me a lot when he was still alive." B.D then got a very peculiar idea. 

"GOT CHA'!" Ruth shouted, grabbing Mercury by the leg and holding him hostage. 

"Let him go!" Emerald demanded. 

"Give me the dust and no one gets hurt! I tried to be fair but I see I have to be a bit forceful!" 

"You son of a-"

"Hmm, you drive a hard bargain...how about I sweeten the deal?" said Zim. He quickly grabbed the bags of dust and handed them to Ruth, taking Mercury from his grasp. "If you give us the dust, I'll give you Mercury!"

Ruth was...confused. "Y-you know what, I'll just keep the dust."

"Oh well, your loss!" 

"Pleasure doing business with you suckers! HAHAHA-wait a minute..." He quickly opened one of the bags, it's contents rolling out on the floor. "C-CABBAGES?!?!"

Zim smirked, as he quickly grabbed the actual bags and, using his jumper ring, happily sent them back to home base. "Oops! We shipped them to our rewards member! Better luck next time I suppose!" 

Ruth was livid. "I'm not leaving empty handed you big pile of worthless gump! I'm taking your heads with-" But Ruth never finished his threat, for he was silenced with a cash register slamming him on the head. Zim looked upwards to see B.D waving from the top. 

"B.D!" Zim shouted. "How's the view from up there?"

"Not as cool as you'd think. All I see are you guys and some cabbages on the floor. Pretty boring if you ask me."

Ruth tumbled for a bit, then collapsed on the floor, knocked out cold. Zim cheered happily. "Hip-Hip-Hurray!! We committed murder! And it only took us 20 chapters!" 

Emerald ran to Ruth to see if he had anything to take. "Seems this guy is still kicking. He's out cold, but he's still breathing. But..." She pulled out his wallet, which contained his card and personal information.

Mercury smirked. "You know what this means?"

Zim smiled. "We're going to commit identity theft?" He then turned his form into Ruth. "I don't know guys, my Ruth impression may be rusty."

Emerald shook her head. "Not exactly. This guy's cash is ours. We could get rich depending on what he has." 

"Well to me it looks like he has a concussion." Mercury commented. 

"H-hello?" A small voice came out from the back. The manager came out from hiding. "Thanks for helping me with...him." 

"No problem, after all, we're...Oh, right, deaf." Zim signaled B.D to come down, to which he landed on top of Ruth, his wheels smashing into his chest. 

"And now he has approximately 4 broken ribs." B.D commented, then went up to Ruth, communicating with him along with Zim. Emerald and Mercury stood by. 

"Well, talk about a fun filled day." Mercury said.

"Didn't expect for someone to come in, but hey, we got to beat someone up."

"And steal his wallet."

"And his dignity!"

"And hey, we might get rich after we steal all his hard earned cash."

"Ha!" Zim laughed. "A small price to pay! Here ya go!" Zim ripped off both his arms, regrew them, then changed both his detached arms into 2 bags and opened both of them, revealing hundreds on top of thousands of lien inside. The manager was in tears, and Emerald and Mercury were in shock. 

"SINCE WHEN THE HELL COULD YOU DO THAT?!" Mercury demanded to know.

"Trust me, he can't hear me, but I probably just screwed over the economic system by introducing a ton of excess money, and thus i'm going to be causing a massive inflation issue that no one is going to see coming, then due to the amount of inflation, to fix it, the government would be forced to slow down the economy by reducing the amount printed, but by doing so they'll end up causing a world depression in the process and everyone will become sad and lonely and hate the government, and believe you me, I was there when it happened back in 1929 in my universe. Isn't that right B.D?"

"You have one gigantic black hair growing right out of your nose!"

"You're God damn right I do! Let's go home B.D!" 

"Righty-o!" Responded B.D, and the both of them tossed a jumper ring and happily left for home, while Emerald and Mercury stood still, perplexed and unsure what to feel. "Come on!!" Shouted B.D, and the 2 left for home. 

Zim smiled. "Just wait until Cinder gets to see all the hard work we put into this heist! She'd be so impressed, she'll look at us and with a big smile say-"

"Where the hell have you 4 been?!" Cinder shouted in a furious tone. 

Emerald quivered. "We went on a dust heist, see?" Emerald opened the bags and out poured out some dust crystals, canned dust, and even cartons of dust bullets. Cinder looked at all that laid in front of her. 

"You acquired all of this?"

Mercury remained silent, smirking and watching Emerald. All eyes laid on her. "Yes?"

Cinder kept looking at the dust, picking up a carton and opening it, seeing the rows of dust bullets lined within. She closed the carton and handed it to Emerald. "Organize them and place them into storage."

Zim and B.D looked towards each other. "YES MAM'!" They quickly picked up some of the stuff and began organizing.

Cinder rolled her eyes and began walking away. Emerald looked down at the carton and sighed. But before she could get up. "Emerald, Mercury."

"Y-yes?" Emerald responded. 

"...Well done." Cinder turned to face Emerald. She didn't smile, but rather stared at the child on the ground. She then left.

Emerald just sat wide eyed on the ground as Zim and B.D continue to organize. Mercury smiled. "Heh, she actually congratulated us for something, how do you like that? Emerald?" Emerald didn't move at all, tears beginning to fall from her face. "Oh, I see. Ok, I'll just Uhh, leave you to it then..." Mercury stated, taking a few steps back. 

Emerald continued to cry to herself, and suddenly, she noticed her own tears. "I thought..." She began, Mercury catching this, although it was more so to herself. "I actually thought...She was mad at us but...I never actually..." It was at this point Mercury realized she was talking to him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should help you organize."

"No need to worry Emerald!" Zim responded, taking the carton from her hands and placing it in a small pile on the floor. "Everything's organized now! Thought we might do ya a solid! But Uhh..." Zim looked towards B.D.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll take these to storage." 

"Thanks B.D. You're the best." B.D nodded, and began taking the boxes, cartons, and cans of dust to storage. Zim then sat next to Emerald and sighed. "You know, the floor is filled with germs. I think it best if we take this to a more private location. And also one with better heating."

"Y-yeah." Emerald responded. The 3 of them went to Emerald's living quarters, it was basic and bland, but considering where they were stationed, it'll do. 

"So is it true on what they said in hell? You were alone for so long, orphaned, but Cinder picked you up and raised you to be such a bad*ss?"

Emerald giggled. "Y-yeah, that's the main gist of It. She's been such a great person to me, but recently she's been..."

"Boring? Ungrateful? Ignorant?"

Mercury thought for a moment. "Well, technically, all of the above."

"But mainly, she's just been so...Stressed."

"Stressed? About what?"

"Herself. She always seems to be on edge about whatever might be happening, and when you guys showed up, I've noticed how serious she's gotten, giving out commands left and right, like her life is on the line."

"Well, she's working with a robot, a skeleton, and a literal demon. If I were her, I would also feel like my life is in constant danger."

"Well, it's not that. It's more so of...Salem."

"Salem?! You mean mommy salami has been giving our boss a hard time?!"

Emerald snickered at the name. "Y-yeah...She's been pushing her to the edge a lot from what I've witnessed. She's been running tasks for Salem for a while now, she could barely catch a break. One minute she's told to run to Atlas and collect data samples for Watts, then she's told to run towards Vacuo to see how the locales are doing, if they're still causing problems amongst one another, and then she was told to come here and work."

"Damn, sounds tough."

"You couldn't begin to imagine it. But the fact she said that...Well done..."

"A sense of pure happiness would surely fill that void in your heart! It would fill mine, but I don't have one currently!"

"She's like a mother I never had, I just want the best for her as she does with me."

"Well listen Emerald, Cinder may be stressed, but deep down I bet that loveable stonefaced hothead loves to have you around. Why, you saw how concerned she was when she asked where we've been!"

Although it was probably for a different reason for her concern, Emerald agreed.

"Exactly! And besides, once this is all over, she won't have to work so much and can chill with you guys, and no more worrying about mommy salami!"

Emerald smiled. "Yeah. I really hope so." They continued to talk and joke throughout the night, as their work was done, and their friendship grew. 

/////

Jackal looked at the black abyss below as Grimm continued to swim and emerge from it. He would occasionally teeter and lose his balance, probably from the sight and smell, but he felt lightheaded from being near the stuff. "This...this is where the Grimm are made?"

Salem nodded. "They're born from these pits, and they bring with them destruction. Some say they're born from dead creatures and humans, but It's actually from something even simpler: Nightmares." 

"Nightmares?"

"Every nightmare births a new Grimm, and since humanity cannot live without sleeping, and since the Grimm are relentless, well, I have an infinite supply for as long as humanity sleeps."

Jackal continued to look outwards at the many Grimm that continued to crawl out from the black pools. Gorillas, wolves, humans, owls, piranhas, whatever creature Jackal could think of, it existed. He covered his mouth.

"Something the matter? First timers tend to feel the same way when near these pools for the first time."

"Why exactly are you showing me this? Is there a solution to our problem hidden within the pools?"

"I've been molding a Grimm that would be capable of doing everything I would ever want. Communicate, follow orders, complete the simplest of tasks a human could do."

"You want to create an assistant. But no one has ever had a nightmare of that, mainly because no one has ever dreamed of such a thing existing."

"Well, some have, but people shrug it off as not happening, Grimm are too primitive for such a thing to exist, so..."

"It dies before it could be born." 

"Precisely." Salem turned to Jackal. His hand was still on his mouth, and he was beginning to turn pale. "Jackal, are you alright?"

"I...I'm..." Jackal groaned. "Cris should be in universe DF-07. You can use my Jumper ring and type the coordinates into it like a keypad, but the buttons are small, so be careful. Toss it when..." Jackal coughed. Black blood filled his hand as he began to walk backwards. "Cris..." He fainted, and Salem quickly picked him up. 


	21. XIX-The Sun, upside down

"JACKAL!" Salem shouted, dashing towards the Egyptian on the ground, bleeding out to death. "No, NO NO NO PLEASE HANG ON!" Salem picked up Jackal quickly and tried to think of a plan. DF-07, jumper ring, Cris, got it. She ran for the dinning hall and laid him on the table, took off his jumper ring, and frantically dialed the coordinate. She had the universe number, what she didn't have was the exact coordinate of where in the universe she needed to go. "Come on, think, think!" But nothing came to mind. What the hell could she do? In desperation she threw the jumper ring, hoping that by some chance that it would bring her to Cris. It opened, and beyond it a young teen stood, surprised at the sudden gateway.

"S-Salem! What are you-" Cris looked behind her and was beyond terrified. "JACKAL!!" He ran to him and turned to Salem. "Please, use your magic, keep him alive, I have to go somewhere!"

"Where are you going?! What is happen-"

"THERE'S NO TIME! JUST DO SOMETHING!" Cris shouted through tears as he tossed his jumper ring and left. Salem was left alone with the God on her table, as blood continued to ooze out of his mouth.

Salem shook her head and quickly placed both her hands on his forehead, as dark smoke-like magic began to flood out of her hands, and a light shining through as well. Jackal struggled to breathe, but it was much better than not breathing at all. He continued to claw all over the place in his painfilled state, groaning and quick desperate breaths continued to flow from him. Salem could only keep her eye on his head, she couldn't afford to let him die, he was potentially useful to getting what she desired, he was too important of an asset. She continued to use her magic, but then she gave a quick glance to his face. Pain writhed through it, but through it he was able to open his right eye, just a small bit. Salem, for the first time, stared at his face, the way he looked, the way he groaned and felt pain. If it weren't for his slamming fist on the table, she wouldn't have realized she got distracted and stopped healing him, and she quickly got back to work.

Soon, Cris came through with a vial. "Jackal, drink this, quickly!" He began pouring the liquid contents into his mouth. Once the last drop was drunk, Jackal continued to writhe in pain until he began to calm down, his breathing returned after he gave a sharp inhale. He shot up from the table and looked around. He saw Salem, who helped keeping him alive. He saw Cris, who helped saving him. He could see their worry, and he fell into Cris' arms and broke down into tears. "Mr. Jackal?" Cris hugged back, and Salem watched. Human emotions filled the room, something that she was certain had become foreign to her.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't realize I caught it...I'm so..." Jackal hugged tighter, and Cris continued to comfort him. 

"It's fine, you're ok. Everything is fine." Cris didn't know how to word his next sentence. 

"It's not."

"Wh-what?" Cris moved away.

Cris, I killed Isic and Jack."

"You...What?!"

"I killed both of them."

Cris was stunned. "Why?! Why did you?!"

"Because I saw their existence as pure torture for himself. They always seemed like he was in constant suffrage. I have a plan, Salem has a plan, we have a plan. We are going to find 22 people who are known as the major arcana and with their power we can restart the universe."

"How Is killing Isic and Jack going to help that?!"

"By killing them, killing them here, their soul is in this universe, and thus will be affected by the reset. And by killing humanity, we can prevent opposition. Please...trust me." Jackal sounded empty as he said those words, his big plan that he was certain of, but was still afraid of it. Cris could see the regret in his eyes, like he doesn't want to do what he's doing anymore. 

"Jackal..."

Jackal went silent, his fear entering his mind. He looked towards Cris, who was filled with surprise and sadness, fear entering his mind as he felt like he knew what Jackal was going to say next. Jackal turned away and began fiddling with his jumper ring. "Thank you my Goddess...I'm going to go to bed."

"NO!!" Cris shouted, tackling Jackal to the ground. "HELL NO YOU'RE NOT!!" The voice was of anger, but this didn't stop the tears from falling down Cris' face. Jackal laid on the ground in surprise. 

"And what would you rather have me do?"

"I...I don't...ANYTHING ELSE, OK?!" Cris hugged tighter. He couldn't let go...not again. "I can't lose you too...I can't lose you..."

"Cris?"

"Don't...Don't ever say that ever again, GOT IT?!" 

"Y-yes!"

"Louder!" 

"Y-Yes!"

"Scream into my ear damn it!!"

"YES!! I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN!!" Then there was silence. Salem could only watch as the events unfurled in front of her. What...Just happened? "Cris...I'm sorry..."

"It's ok...Don't scare me like that ok?"

Jackal agreed. Cris let go and helped Jackal up from the floor. Cris turned to face Salem, who was confused and surprised. 

"Jackal." Cris began. "Head home and figure out what we need to do next. I guess I need to explain myself to Salem."

"Are you sure? My Goddess?"

Salem nodded her head, and Jackal left. Salem turned to the water-teen with an interested expression strewn across her face. "Explain."

"Have a seat, it's going to be a long one." Cris asked, and Salem accepted, both of them taking a seat at the table as Cris began.

/////

In my life, before I became who I am, I was human. I was named Cris by my mother and trained by my father, being born in a realm known as Midgard. I grew up to be not as strong and tough as the rest of my family which, despite the accepting nature of my family, made me felt like I wasn't the best I could be. 

"Son." Father would say one day when we were out hunting deer. "It matters not the strength of the man, but rather the vastness of his wit. I just happen to be the strong one, and your mother the witty one." I chuckled when he told me that, although deep down at my young age I took it as me being girly. We worked in a village, Kaldhjem, where we met traders, fishermen, hunters, the basics to every village. Everyday, my father would take me to train my body, teach me how to wield an axe for combat, and archery for hunting. Each day, I would hit my mark, and my father would be so proud of me. He'd then take me home, leave to do some business with the traders, and leave me with my mother, who taught me to cook and tell me all her stories. It was a good life, and...I met him. He was my age when I met him, Erik was his name. It was on our way home, and my father insisted I tried making some friends. So I did, and I met Erik, and we just connected so well. He was tough, strong too. Though he wasn't as big as my father, more so a buffer version of me, heh. We continued like this whenever we got the chance, hanging out and cracking jokes and doing stupid kids stuff, until we were old enough to do stupid teenage stuff.

I remember one time, when we were alone, we were both 19 at the time, I joked to him that my father once told me that he was the strong one and mother was the smart one, and thus we could be a couple since I was the smart one and he was the strong one. I brawled in laughter...But he didn't laugh. He simply watched the sunset. I asked him what was up..."Could we?" Was his response...I guess we could, that was the joke, I responded. I could see he wanted to tell me something, as if he was frustrated that I wasn't catching what he was trying to pitch to me. But I quickly caught on. I grabbed his hand, and he shivered in surprise. My second favorite thing he had ever told me was "By the Gods, your hands are freezing!" I would laugh for a while...He then asked me a question, and it threw me off..."Can I?" It wasn't even a proper question, yet I knew what he wanted. I shyly nodded my head, and...He...He kissed me. My hands may have been cold, but his lips, the way he held me, his embrace...it was so warm, my heart fluttered, and I wanted it to last forever. My favorite thing he had ever told me was "I love you." 

It still pains me...it stings actually every time I think about it...It was also the last thing he said. A distress signal rang and we ran for the village, which was being raided by enemy Vikings. I quickly picked up my axe and we both went to battle. We fought ferociously, my father and mother joining into the fray. But we didn't win. My father was slain by an arrow to the heart, my mother was slain by a spear to the chest, and my...Erik was slain by sword. I was the last one standing from my whole village, and down he came from his horse. The man who caused all this, he didn't do it for cruelty, but rather for land, resources, his people were becoming desperate. He was named Elskede, and he looked down at me as I stood against him. But not for the village, for my family and the one I loved. I fought, constantly swinging my axe at him, but he dodged, countered and blocked all my attacks. Blow after blow I took as I tried to get back at him, tears falling down my face, and soon I lost the energy to fight and I fell to my knees. He came to me, but not with a killer's intent, but his eyes were filled with pity. We stared at each other, not a single word was spoken, and yet we understood each other. He looked away from me. "That bow and quiver...are those yours?" I nodded, and he went and took both of them to me, wrapping both of them onto my back and he stood back up. "How would you prefer to die? By arrow, by axe?" Arrow I responded with tears in my eyes. He went to his horse and got his bow and arrows, and readied one. But he didn't take aim, instead he asked me one last thing. "Do you have a favorite song?" Mother always sung me this song whenever I went to bed, but I was so scared and so broken I could barely remember the song, and I barely got it out too. Heyr Himna Smiður. It's always helps me relax I answered. He nodded. "May either Valhalla find you strong and worthy, or may Fólkvangr offer you peace." He turned to his men, and one stepped forward. He began singing the song, and I cried more tears. But the longer the song went on, the more I relaxed, the less tears fell. My eyes were closed, my bow and quiver, which was filled with some arrows courtesy of Elskede, were on my person, and I clutched my axe tight. Before the song ended, I felt a breeze go by, and the song abruptly ended. I opened my eyes, only to see everyone gone. Everyone besides a Valkyrie, who offered to take me to Valhalla. I went with her, only to see that no one else I knew was here, meaning they must've gone to Fólkvangr. 

I never trained, never ate, never drank the mead, just sometimes go outside, watch the stars, the constellations, and sometimes people would come over to me and offer to party, to not be dismayed and rather be happy, it's Valhalla! But I'd shrug them off...I would say...

**Salem shook her head. "You don't need to. I Understand fully."**

Thank you. But yeah, I was basically stuck in that bed for a long time. I had no reason to move out of it, nor any reason to want to get out of it besides the stars. I have no clue why they gave me reason to leave, but they didn't make me smile. I guess it was because of Erik's constant love for them as we tend to stargaze a lot. But apparently one night, while I stood stargazing, a young man walked up behind me and said "This is the 45th night you got up and went to watch the stars. Something up there the rest of us can't see?" I shrugged. Maybe, maybe not. I'm not really sure honestly. I just...do it for the memory of an old love I had I answered. The man smiled. "Was she cute?" He was everything I had, I said, and the man went wide eyed. Then nodded his head. "Wow, I didn't expect to hear that tonight, but understandable. I also noticed that you haven't been eating nor drinking for a while. Not that we can die a second time, but seriously! Why the bad attitude?" That's when he saw me tear up and hide my face in my arms. It's mainly cause I can't see him again, I have no reason to be here. Heck, without him I have no reason to exist either. My father and mother died for our village to live, for us to live, and yet here I am...Alone. He patted me on the back. "Yeah, sounds rough kid. Battles are gruesome, and not always fair." But I quickly swatted his hand away. But Elskede was! He gave me a death I could relax in, without fear clouding my mind, he fought for what he needed rather than what he selfishly desired. It was all done fairly, and yet it's all my fault, all because I couldn't fight! I couldn't save him. And the young man patted me on the back. "You know, this is just your soul up here, so I have an offer for you. You seemed really rattled about this, so I can send your soul over to a different body, not human unfortunately, so you could at least help others avoid your fate." Send my body? I asked. That sounds wonderful, but what do you mean by...And he pushed me off the edge of the hall's railing, and falling besides me were my axe and my bow, arrows, and quiver, and a small brown sack of something fell with me too. The last thing I saw as I fell was the young guy missing, and Odin was waving in his place. 

It took a while, but I woke up eventually. And this is what I became. He also gave me the power I have, I can drink a small droplet of people's blood and I would see their entire life, and thanks to his small Asier magic being thrusted within me, so that made me a Demigod. Inside the sack was food, a bottle of mead and a book. The book was a long list of different magical techniques I could pull off with the limited Asier magic I have, plus it taught me how to carve these runes onto my weapons to make them more powerful. With all of this I begun traveling, and people began seeing me as a wandering spirit that would give helpful advice to those who gave only a droplet of what Odin gave Mimir. It worked, and many lives were saved by my efforts. Until Jackal came. He was given a task by the Elder ones to round up 9 different versions of himself In order to avenge his destroyed universe. I had to decline, I couldn't leave my home. But Jackal insisted, Odin allowed me to leave and spread my good will towards others in distant lands, and I...Was stupid, cause I began falling for Jackal. But he's a God, and he doesn't even have time for someone like me, and...I'm so sorry Mrs. Salem! I began venting...

/////

"It's fine" Salem responded. "But Jackal can...can he obtain magic and use it like me?"

"All Gods are crafted with magic built in, it's just a matter of using it. We have our own forms of magic, but we can learn the one you use. Jackal plays more with morphing the sand around him, but that's just a bonus of using his soul in tandem with his mind. It's strange, that would mean he hasn't fully tapped into his true potential, despite his old age. I wonder what's holding him back."

"Fear, perhaps. But that black blood, is that?"

"The eldritch evolution. He's infected. But his soul is strong, I know it. I've seen him constant times fighting for those he cares for, he's such a caring person and..."

"You love him?"

"He's just so kind to me. He helps me whenever I need it, he's a great mentor, he's powerful, he's...Erik all over again."

Salem did not respond. She reflected on the story. "Have you ever returned the love?"

"I...I don't know. And that's my concern. I may love him but he doesn't have the time to love me back. Sure he educates me and cares for me and protects me, but he probably only sees me as a pupil. Nothing more, nothing less."

Salem shook her head. "Don't think like that. You don't know if that's actually how he feels, you can't read his mind. Well, I mean, you technically can, but...That's not the point. Point being that you have to ask him sometime, not put It off forever because you're afraid he'd reject you. You don't know until you've tried."

Cris looked towards Salem and nodded. "Thank you...I will try..." He began to ponder something.

"Something the matter Cris?"

"Y-yeah." He thought for a moment. But in his mind, he thought for so long, so hard, he didn't know what to do correctly. He gave Salem a stern look and stood up tall. "I...I want to join your team."

Salem looked surprised. "Just because Jackal's in it?"

"Because I just realized that if this works...Then I would complete what Odin asked of me: To help people avoid the same fate as mine. I can create a better tomorrow by preventing the worst future. I don't think Ruby or her friends would agree, what we're doing is beyond forgiveness, but...It's the true path. For the good of humanity. Let's do it."

Salem still looked shocked. She had planned to eradicate all of humanity and use the relics to make herself the true God and reshape humanity as she saw fit, torturing Ozma for all eternity. But seeing the resolve of someone who didn't kill for fun, didn't kill for revenge, didn't kill for power, who only wanted to better the lives of others, to better his life, to better her's..."Welcome to the team."


	22. Good morning, good night

_Tick...Tick..._

As the noise continued, Emerald slowly opened her eyes and gave them a soft rub.

_Tick...Tick..._

She slowly got out of bed, stretching her arms, waiting for the inevitable noise. 

_Tick...Tick..._

She gave a glance to the alarm clock as it continued it constant chime. It looked back at her and smiled.

_Tick...tick..._

Slowly, the alarm clock got quieter, until it's ticking was barely audible. A smile was strewn across its face. Zim placed a finger on his lips. "I'll give you 5 minutes, just know that I have to go off sometime." He whispered. 

Emerald nodded. "I need to get up anyways. Just promise me you'll annoy Mercury."

"The best I can." Zim assured, putting his thumb up and continuing his ticking. 

Emerald smiled, yawning and walking towards a part of the warehouse that was filled with boxes upon boxes, guarded by a few white fang members. One of which greets Emerald and hands her a MRE, which she takes with a smile and walks towards a comfortable spot, sitting on top of a box and preparing her breakfast. Cinnamon oatmeal with a strawberry granola and fruit punch for a drink. She removed the packets of salt and pepper (along with the special pack of laxatives, which she was eager to pour some into some unsuspecting white fang. She would do it to Mercury, but the whole ink demon alarm might be enough fun for the morning) and took out her spoon and fork, setting them aside and began the process of making her oatmeal, until...

”Care to make some room?” Asked Cinder. Emerald scooted along the box until Cinder was able to sit comfortably alongside her. “I wanted to congratulate you properly for your efforts yesterday. Sorry if I was in a rush, I was quite busy.”   
Emerald nodded. She saw this coming, she is always busy. But this was new, the fact she even thought of eating breakfast outside her office for once is surprising enough, and to sit next to her of all things! “It’s fine. Why don’t you take a break? You seemed stressed recently.” 

“As much as I would love that, I must decline. The work needed for this plan to work requires my full attention, and your full cooperation.” Cinder began eating her food, while emerald began pouring the powder to make her drink. “I must say, your little stunt really put Roman in his place. I haven’t seen him this embarrassed of being proved wrong since the security measures for dust stores began. He couldn’t dream of robbing dust and yet, you did, and you cleaned it like it was nothing!”

Emerald smiled. “If it weren’t for the others, Mercury, Zim, B.D, that heist probably wouldn’t have gone so well.” 

Cinder nodded. “Yes, that’s true as well. It seems you make a great team together.”

“Thanks.” Emerald didn’t realize it, but she had the biggest, childish smile on her face. Cinder simply nodded.

“We’re going to give Adam a visit today, so make sure you look your best. Afterwards, we begin phase 2.” 

“Yeah...What exactly is phase 2?”

”Salem told me to gather ourselves and disguise ourselves as students of Mistral, infiltrating Beacon academy and destroy it from the inside out.”

Emerald cocked her head to the side. “And they won’t be suspicious?” 

“Well, transfer student from Mistral would be suspicious, if it weren’t during the Vital festival.”

Emerald realized the true workings of the plan as she snapped her fingers in realization. “Since students are coming from all over Remnant, no one would be suspicious of Mistral students showing up! Cinder, you’re a genius!”

Cinder smiled, even blushed a little. Emerald realized what she said and blushed as well. “Well...Thank you. Very flattering Emerald.”

”Y-yeah.” They both looked back to their meals and continued to eat in silence. Well, almost silent. Cinder perked up and listened carefully.

”Do you hear that? It sounds like...Ticking?”

Emerald tried her best from not laughing, that is until she heard something strange. “Wait...yeah, but the ticking is overlapping against itself?”

Mercury groaned in bed. It was bad enough that he was tired and didn’t want to get up, but now he has a growing headache from this weird noise the warehouse was making. Nonetheless, he tried to get up, peeking through the blanket, only to see a nightmare filled his room. All around him, alarm clocks continued to tick, and Zim, drinking from his ink bottle and removing his arm to make another clock, smiled happily at his craftwork. He sat on top of a dresser in the room and continued to tick. 

_Tick...Tick..._

Mercury was beyond scared, the ticking wouldn’t stop, and it was only going to be a short while before everything goes wrong.   
_  
__Tick...Tick...Tick..._

Mercury slowly hid back under the covers and begged for his life quietly, as he heard Zim finish his countdown. 

_Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick...BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!_

All at once, every single alarm clock went off, Emerald losing herself in laughter, and Cinder holding back her’s through her serious demeanor. Zim began laughing like a maniac. “RISE AND SHINE MERCURY!! TIME TO WELCOME THE EVER RISING SUN!!!” Mercury continued to groan, slowly and furiously turning off every alarm clock in sight, as both the sounds of ringing and laughter continued to fill the warehouse. 

/////

Jackal had moved to his table and pulled out the box of tarot cards. The questions he had were becoming thin, what could he possibly ask destiny today that would help his plan come true. Soon, however, he came to a question that he placed aside for a while, and once he finished shuffling, he began. Past, present, future. He flipped the first one, which was 0-The Fool, right-side up. Jackal nodded, it was true in everyway. Next, the present, which was the Ace of swords, right-side up. Jackal was almost proud of seeing this card, understanding the person in question. He flipped the final card and he froze. X of swords, upside down. He quickly got his jumper ring and left, he needed to figure out what was happening, as he noticed the swords in the final card were tentacles, and the man below was a certain, golden haired boy he couldn't afford to lose. 

/////

Cinos looked curiously throughout the warehouse, like a lost child who is looking for someone to help him. He felt disturbed, something was bothering him, but he did a good job not to show it. He finally reached where he wanted to end up, and he looked at the little sign hanging off the doorknob that said "Roman's room. Stay out." Cinos cocked his head to the side, looking down and closed his eyes, as if he were giving a small sigh of sadness. If he could talk, he would say he couldn't read English, but deep down he knew that would be a fat lie. He slowly opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and he walked inside. The placed looked nice, almost like a hotel room, with a bathroom on the left of the entrance, and just a little bit ahead, down the hallway leading from the entrance, was a TV, 2 beds, and Neo, watching television, and Roman, waddled up inside his blanket. Cinos was concerned, and continued to walk into the room, looking at Roman the entire time. Neo perked up, just barely noticing the small skeleton in front of her, looking worryingly at the master criminal, defeated and inside his blanket. Cinos didn't know what to do, and neither did Neo. Cinos looked towards Neo and signed to her, asking if Roman was Ok at all, to which Neo responded with a negative, not ever since Mercury and Emerald successfully robbed that store yesterday. Roman looked like an idiot, the laughing stocked as he called it, that 2 newbies were able to rob a heavily guarded store better than he could. Cinos signed with disagreement, saying 'Heavily guarded' was pushing the envelope, as there were only 2 guards on duty, but he highly doubt that would cheer Roman up at all. Neo looked towards Roman with a worried look on her face, and Cinos continued to think, and quickly got Neo's attention. He placed down a bag he was carrying with him the entire time and pulled out a small doll and gave it a small hug, then signing for Neo to try hugging Roman. Neo blushed, just faintly though, and then after a moment of trying to figure out if there was any other option, she nodded her head. Cinos gave some happy clacks with his bones, then signed that he would be right back with a gift for Roman, and he left the room quietly and quickly. Neo looked towards Roman and took a deep breath, walking towards him and patting him on the back. Roman groaned. "Thanks for the pats Neo, but not in the mood." Neo went around to see his face, which was stone cold and sad. Neo looked even more worried, then bent down a bit to be at eye level with Roman. She placed her finger on her shoulder and slowly moved the shirt she was wearing off with her one finger, raising and lowering her eyebrows seductively. Roman squinted for a moment, almost in disgust with himself, then turned away from Neo, now showing his back towards her. "Sorry Neo...Not in the mood." Neo stood back up, fixing her shirt, then gathered her courage, and moved back to where Roman could see her. "Neo, I'm fine, it's just that I don't feel like doing-N-NEO?!" Neo quickly laid in bed, wrapping her arms around Roman in a tight embrace. Roman could only stay cuddled in his blanket as Neo continued to hug him as he tried to figure out why Neo was being weird. "Uhh...Neo? What are..." Neo didn't respond with sign language or with words, but Roman caught the same message through the tears falling down her face. Roman quickly took out his arms and gave Neo the same embrace. "Thanks...Neo." Roman spoke. They both stayed this way for a while, both ending up falling asleep again, as Cinos quietly sneaked in and saw the 2 sleeping, placing what he had on the countertop holding the TV and leaving to inform Cinder that he was ready to leave, but they might be smart to leave Roman and Neo behind. On top of the countertop was a bunch of plush rubies and diamonds, each one stitched together with a smiley face on one side of the gemstone, with a small post-it note on the front of all the plushies that read "To the best thief ever. -C".

/////

A grunt broke out of Cris as he swung his axe one more against Jaune, who was barely holding his ground at this point. Before the axe could come down upon him again, Jaune quickly moved to the side and attempted to strike Cris, who saw this, and countered with his axe. Jaune was knocked back, and Cris quickly caught his footing. He began to circle Jaune, as he followed, and they both stared at each other. Jaune smirked. "Nice moves right? Made them myself."

Cris rolled his eyes as he took out a small rock from his bag and began carving a rune into his axe. "Of course, Mr. Jaune. How could I ever forget the unforgettable triple-arc slash?" 

"I feel that there's some sarcasm in there."

Cris couldn't help but smile and he tried to hold back a laugh. "Maybe."

"Come on! It's cool sounding! Right Ren?!"

Ren gave a silent thumbs up while he was deep in meditation. "You have such a way with words Jaune that the vibes here have increased ten fold."

"SEE! Even my bud Ren thinks it's cool."

"Sure, of course." Cris then proceeded to place a different rune on his bow and gave Jaune a look of devious intention. "But the downside of naming attacks is that the enemy would know what's coming."

Jaune readied himself. "Ok? But it sounds cool!"

"Sure, but I prefer names that are...a bit closer to home."

"What exactly does that-"

"Mørket!" Cris shouted and quickly sliced his axe towards Jaune, who was hit, but not by the axe, but the black ooze that began leaking from its sharp blade. Jaune was hit on the arm, which he was able to get off with ease, but once he looked upwards to confront Cris, all he could see was darkness. 

"Uhh...Cris?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't see anything. I can see myself and my weapon, but I can barely see anything."

"Really? How far can you see?"

"I think maybe...a foot in front of me?"

"Good, it worked." Cris proceeded to bash Jaune left and right with his axe, Jaune barely being able to block his attacks. Most attacks would go through, but Jaune would occasionally get lucky a block one, but once Jaune got the pattern going, it suddenly stopped. Jaune was ready for anything that might happen, but he only convinced himself he was because of his successful blocks. Cris was about to prove him severely wrong. "Eksplosjon!" And Jaune heard an arrow being released, and prepared to block. But before the arrow hit, Jaune realized something odd about the name of the attack.

"Explosion? Like the bomb kind or-" Jaune was blown away (literally) as the arrow collided with his shield, which sent him flying into a tree and sadly hitting the ground in a sad Jaune pile. "Ok...You can turn the lights back on now...and also if you have some healing thingamajig that would be nice too." 

Cris giggled, then walked towards Jaune. "I'm right here, may I see your sword?" Jaune nodded, then handed his sword, to which Cris began carving a rune onto the blade of the sword. "Lyset" And with a flash of light, Jaune blinked a few times, and sighed with relief to see that his sight was fixed. 

"Thanks...WAIT! Does this mean I now have super cool light powers? What's the magic word again?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. The rune is made with this rock here, gifted to me by the Gods of old to aid me in my quest to assist humanity, and it doesn't last forever, only a good 15 minutes before I must rewrite the rune."

"Aww...I thought I was going to be so cool and...You wanna lemme borrow the-"

"NO. Under no circumstance would I ever trust you with this relic." Silence followed. "The magic word, by the way, is pronounced 'Lyset', but I'm still dead serious about the rock. Its name is Guddommelig fred, and yes, I'm not making that up and no, it doesn't have feelings and second no, you may not pet it. Trust me, I get that question a lot for some reason."

Ren perked up from his meditation. "Is it just me, or have you gotten a bit more..."

"Serious? How could I not? Honestly, all this training with you guys has me both pumped and worried at the same time. We may be getting stronger, but so might the Grimm, and training ain't so bad. It's actually fun and satisfying to see all of you grow both stronger and wiser with the ever coming days."

Jaune noticed something, and quickly reached into his pocket to find his scroll buzzing, with a notification from Ozpin for all students to return immediately. "Looks like we better grab the group and head back."

"I'll fetch Nora, you fetch Pyrrha, sound cool?"

"Always." Jaune gave a thumbs up, then turned towards Cris. "Thanks for the training today, it was really...Why are you looking at me like that?"

Cris was a bit stunned and pointed at Jaune's arm, which Jaune only noticed just now that it was bleeding...Black blood. Jaune screeched like a girl. "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!! I'M GOING TO TURN INTO WHAT RUBY IS!!! THAT'S...something I probably should've seen a mile away, you know with the hanging out and the whatnot and everything."

Cris was filled with fear. "Oh God what are we going to do?! Think, what would Jackal do?!"

"He would first calm down, and stop screaming like a girl. Second, he has a solution." Jackal answered, coming from the jumper ring. "You're lucky I decided to do a tarot reading on you today."

"Mr. Jackal!"

"Jaune, calm down and give me your arm." Jaune did as instructed, and Jackal looked at it closely. "Ok I'm done."

"Wait, WHAT?! But I'm still bleeding, and it's still black."

"With traces of white."

"With traces of-wha?"

"White, see?" Jackal took a small bit from Jaune and he examined it. Sure enough, small traces of white appeared in the blood. "I noticed in my research that those who have white in their blood have enough soul strength to not lose their minds. You're already fine and ready to transform, once you do it the first time of course, it might take a while and it also might come at random."

Ren was calm, despite what was at stake here. "Huh, how convenient for you Jaune."

Jaune was excited. "This is going to be so cool! Do you think I'll grow biceps? Or maybe cool tentacles! Oh, WAIT! Tentacles and biceps!"

Ren could only roll his eyes. "Cool, but we're kind of in a rush, so can we leave now?"

"Oh! Right! Thanks for the assist Jackal, and thanks for the training Cris! Wanna come with us to the meeting?"

Jackal shook his head. "I need to have a word with Cris, if you don't mind."

"Uh, sure!" Cris responded. 

"Take care!" Jaune waved goodbye as he left to gather his teammates. 

Cris turned to face Jackal. "Was that a...?"

"No, it's the honest truth. Dr. Watts was able to figure it out with the help of...A few test subjects."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"Well, let's just say that missing persons cases have been increasing in Atlas lately."

"Holy sh*t."

"Yeah."

"This is why we need to have an ethics committee."

"We're going to reset the universe, what's an ethics committee going to do to help us?"

"...Good point. Also, you did a tarot reading on Jaune?"

Jackal nodded excitedly and with much anticipation. "Yes! Not only that, but Ren and Jaune are 2 of the tarot cards we need!"


	23. XXI - The World, besting the darkness

"Students, I like to thank you all for coming." Ozpin began. The grand hall was filled with every student on campus, and amongst the crowd was team RWBY and JNPR. 

Ruby could barely contain her excitement. "Oh man, what will It be about this time? New weapons, please be new weapons!!"

Weiss crossed her fingers in anticipation as well. "Better living quarters. Comfier beds. Personal butlers!"

Yang smiled. "Come on, at least let him talk."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you might learn a thing or 2 if you hear what he has to say, like what he actually is talking about."

Ozpin cleared his throat. "I'll try to keep this short. As many of you know, coming in the distant future is the Vital festival, and many of you are very excited about the battles and the overwhelming splendour that is the entertainment, and especially the food." Many students giggled. At least he was honest. "But more importantly, the fights and battles that will occur. I have noticed that In these recent times of Grimm and training, that fighting amongst one another and training has improved morale heavily recently, and so I have decided to apply a training regiment for those who are interested. On your left and right are flyers that speak of this regiment, and whoever is interested may sign up and enter a tournament held in the school, which will consist of a bracket of students competing against one another. Not only that, but those who fare well enough may earn a seat in the Vital Festival tournament." Some students began gossiping amongst each other. This was incredible! A once in a lifetime chance to get into the Vital Festival, and all you have to do was prove you're the best. "I certainly hope that you all find this opportunity to be of some interest. Thank you. You may turn in your flyers no later than 2 weeks from now, and you turn them in by taking a picture and mailing it to the office email. Thank you, and happy hunting."

He turned his back, and smiled as he heard students lining up to get their names written down for the upcoming tournament. Team RWBY and JNPR, however, were slower and much more calm compared to everyone else when they signed up. Weiss signed her name and left for the dorms along with her teammates. "It's not a personal butler, but if it's a way for me to prove just how great of a huntress I am, then I'm more than happy to sign up. What about you girls?"

Ruby was already halfway signing her name when Weiss asked. "Imma floor these suckers with my skills! I'm going to be like WAPOW! WASHOO! TA-TA-TA! And everyone else is going to be like 'Oh no! It's Ruby and her friends! What ever will I do!' and I'll be all cool and say something like 'I'll tell you what you can do...suffer.'" Ruby nodded her head in excitement at her fantasy. 

Yang was also pumped up for this. "The chance to fight someone else? Heck yeah I'm signing up."

Blake just looked at her teammates as she signed her name. "If you all are doing it, then why not." 

"HA!" Yang was extremely excited. "Wait till those universe jumpers hear about this!"

/////

Salem was pacing around the room. "You found 2 more of them!?"

Jackal nodded. "Jaune Arc and Lie Ren. It seems that Jaune is XI-Justice, and Ren is XIV-Temperance."

"Seems this won't be as hard as I once thought it would be." Salem concluded with a smile. "Once we have all the pieces together, then we can begin the final part of the grand plan. Nothing can stand in our way."

"Indeed, my Goddess." Jackal bowed his head. 

Cris, on the other hand, was suspicious. "It can't be this easy, can it? We already have the identity of 6 of the arcana, and yet it was based on blind guessing!" 

Jackal shrugged. "Works for me."

"I guess." Cris responded as well. Salem looked outward into the vast abyss of the realm of the God of darkness. The black pools continuing their spewing of newborn Grimm and monstrosities for humanity to die by, and yet...There was something she couldn't shake off. 

"Go check up on those children in Beacon. See if you could find anymore."

"Of course my Goddess." They both left, and Salem was left alone, her own thoughts to attend to.

Countless years of war and violence Salem had become accustomed to, and yet she only did it to finally enact her revenge against the fool that wronged her oh so many years ago. Once he was taken care of, she could live the rest of her life in peace...But she noticed something was wrong. Peace...It felt like acid just thinking about it, and the thought of the end felt like a fairy tale that someone had read to her once while she was stuck within that tower many ages ago. It didn't make any sense, victory was almost in her grasp, all she needed to do was to end this farce and she could finally be at peace! Right? Something burrowed in her mind, and she tried to fight back from it. What was this feeling, this wretched feeling of want and desire to keep going? Why would she need to keep going, what was the point? She would gain nothing in exchange for the prolonged war, but he would lose everything, he would lose everything if she can end this and she would gain everything she ever wanted, but he would suffer from the prolonged war and everyone he had ever guided or even remotely exchanged glances with would suffer and perish at her whim, but she could end this, why won't that voice just shut up?! "Leave...Me...Alone..." She begged, but the voice bowed to no master, and only sought to make one thing...Pain and suffering. Salem clutched her mind, the pain seering up withing her like a flame she couldn't put out, and anger built up within her as she tried pushing back this voice. The feeling was nostalgic, the pain a faint memory reemerging to haunt her again, and the darkness oh so familiar. "I...I won't let you take over me...AGAIN!!" Salem thrashed left and right on the ground as she continued to fight against the voice, the pain, the memory. _All Gods have regrets._ She remembered once saying, once advising. The darkness began to cloud her mind, began to consume her. She felt herself falling, deeper and deeper into the hole. She almost lost herself, until a very familiar voice shot through it all. 

_Salem, please! Don't do this! This isn't the way to handle the mortals!_

She found herself shouting back at the voice. _You dare defy me?! I thought I knew you, but all you are is weak, worthless, and not fit to rule!_

_Salem, please, what are you...NO! Not the kids!_

Salem's eyes shot open, the regret piling up within her. That voice. That damn voice that convinced her that what she did was right, what she committed was for the greater good. She believed a lie her whole life, she was responsible for her own undoing. _Their power shall become their own undoing._ How ironic, how foolish, Salem thought to herself. And here she laid, being taken over by the darkness once more...

_Do you think I'm...weak?_

_Weak?! You're the strongest woman I know Salem!_

_Yeah, says a lot about a woman who was locked within a tower for so long..._

_Salem, weakness isn't what you can't do or what you believe that you can't do. It's what others prevent you from doing, what you prevent yourself from doing. When I saved you from that tower, I never saw you as weak, just helpless. And now look at you! Do you think I fell in love with you because you were weak and helpless?_

_No?_

_No! I love you because of how strong and caring of a woman you are! You're courageous, strong, fierce, loving, and so many more wonderful adjectives I could go on forever! You, Salem, are so powerful and strong, there's nothing in the world you can't do._

_Ozma..._

Those words continued to bat around within her mind, and she tried getting up. But the voice grew stronger, the weakness in her legs and arms grew more intense. "There's...nothing I can't...do..." 

_Salem please! Not the kids, anything but the-_

Salem continued to try and stand up, gritting her teeth. For the first time in a long time, she struggled against a force, she was filled with fear, but she was filled with determination, with strength, with anger. She won't fall again, she couldn't. This was her fight, not his.

 _Come child, step into the darkness, see the chaos you wrought onto humanity! See your foolishness first hand!_ That wicked God's taunt flooded within her mind. Her mind. It was not his plaything, it was her's to control. 

_A fitting punishment for a worthless, despicable, defiant fool, a never ending death!_ Salem could hear his taunts continue, but through it all, she could hear Ozma's begging, she could hear her regret. 

_SALEM!!_

"You...YOU WILL NOT CONTROL ME!!" She struggled and fought, the sense of something holding her down snapping and setting her free. She screamed and pulled herself up, the chains that once held her down now broken, as she broke the final one, she could've sworn that she heard the God of Darkness' cry of pain. She caught her breath and took a seat. She felt...calm, collected, and for the first time in a long time, clear minded. She took a deep breath and relaxed. She was now in control of her own actions, and she couldn't be more proud of herself, and she couldn't be more tired. She needed to tell someone, perhaps Jackal could explain, but before she could command the seer, she noticed her reflection in the seer. She was still pale white, her hair matching and her dress the same, but the markings on her face, the veins that ran through her arm, vanished. 

/////

Zim continued to poke at the ant on the ground as it scurried around. "Makes you feel insignificant, doesn't it B.D?"

B.D was worried. "Uhh, Zim? I think you should knock it off, I think they refer that as animal cruelty."

"Nonsense B.D! What's 1 ant gonna-" Zim turned back around. He was met with more than just one ant, but a whole collection of them. 200 ants had come to say hi, and they all charged at him, the sounds of battle against the giant the ants prepared. Their pincers sharp, their rage unstoppable, their queen watching from afar. Zim was overwhelmed by the ants, or he would be, but despite the strength of the ants, Zim's flamethrower was stronger. "Now that's animal cruelty."

"Do you think we'll get arrested for that?"

"No body, no crime."

"You make me question my sanity sometimes Zim."

Cider was not having any of this. "You 2! Enough fooling around, get in!"

"Uhh...Cinder?" Zim asked. "There's not enough seats. There's only enough for 8 people, and well there's the 4 white fang men, you, Emerald, Mercury, Hazel, B.D, and me, which makes 10. Where do me and B.D sit?"

"Uhh, dude?! Do you really need to ask? The roof of course!" B.D suggested. Cinder said nothing as the 2 idiots ran for the roof, acting like sightseeing children as she could hear them immediately beginning a game of 'I spy'. She was going to have them sit on the floor, but this...This might be better, both for her ears and patience, as long as they don't start jumping up and down.

Zim smiled, looking down at Cinos who was waiting behind the truck as he waved his friends goodbye. "Now you be a good skeleton and make sure that everyone does their job correctly! And if they don't..?" Cinos waved his arms in the air childishly. "RIGHT! You tell them nicely to stop. And if they don't..?" Cinos then reached for a gun and cocked it. "Oh sh*t...well I mean if you insist."

"Let's get moving now!" Cinder demanded, and the truck began moving towards their destination.

Emerald looked out the window and caught Zim's attention. "How's the view from up there?"

"Not bad, although the bugs are slightly annoying. Apparently being a demon makes me a giant bug magnet. Either that or they enjoy my organic musk. Who knew?"

"Speaking of which, you said you're from another universe, in hell right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"How was the me in that universe?"

"Same as they you from here, although I have to say you're much more fun to hang around! So much kinder and generous than b*tchy mcb*tch face. Oops, sorry."

"It's cool."

"But still, you're just such an amazing person. As a matter of fact, everyone here is amazing! I'm so glad Cinos found this place! So relaxing, so nice, so warm, and very friendly too!"

"Glad you're enjoying your time here."

"So, where exactly are we headed now?"

"We're going to see some dude named Adam Taurus."

"Wait...ADAM MOTHERF**KING TAURUS?!" And for the remainder of the ride, Zim either squealed with excitement, or continued his game of 'I spy' with B.D. The rest of the team in the truck waited as they departed to give Adam Taurus a friendly hello. 


	24. Episode 2: Lover's quarrel

The forests of Vale continued their calm melody of quiet, as the birds continued to sing their songs of peace. But the quiet, although a fear-inducing sign to anyone out in the forest alone, was a song of home for Adam while he was in his tent. He continued to look over his map of Beacon and continued to think of what to do when the inevitable time comes. The plan was simple, white fang members would cut the power off from everyone and everything, then the Grimm would show up and finish the job. The intricacies of the plan were the difficult part, however. How exactly are you going to do that? According to scouts, they couldn't find the power supply, yet. There still was a chance, a chance to show those below him what true power looked like. Those humans, those that refer themselves to be 'normal' will feel the sting of their own words. He just needed to find their power supply, then everything would fall into place...

"High leader!" A white fang member raced through the tent's entrance, saluting. "Cinder has arrived."

Adam nodded, then walked out of the tent. Surrounding his tent was a couple other tents and different workshops that help his little campground grow. From weapons to training camps to small food tents, Adam thought of everything, and he was always prepared to do whatever it took to fight for what he believed was right. Preparation was the key to success, which helped him rise through the ranks so quickly. A truck came to a stop, and out stepped out Cinder along with 4 white fang members, who went to a tent to switch out their roles from the warehouse to Adam's campground. "Adam Taurus." Cinder greeted.

"Cinder Fall. Welcome."

"We were instructed by some higher ups that we needed to have a chat. We wanted a progress report from all sites at Vale, so...Progress report." Cinder demanded.

"No sign of the power supply of Beacon. But I know that it must be somewhere there. It has to. It's not like the school runs on nothing."

"Indeed it wouldn't. Something must be powering it, and you're telling me that for the past 3 months your scouts found absolutely nothing that was powering the school?"

"Are you suggesting I'm a liar?"

"Yes." Cinder was blunt and honest about what she thought. Adam couldn't have possibly cared less about her feelings. The fact still remained, they didn't know the location of Beacon's power supply.

"Do you know what insanity is, Cinder?"

"Please, enlighten me Adam, what is insanity?"

"It is the process of repeating a certain action and somehow expecting a different result. I can continually send scouts to Beacon, but it's been too long, and they found nothing. We need a new plan, a different tactic."

"When you repeatedly punch a wall, it soon crumbles. When you continually stab a person's stomach, they will eventually die. When you give an immortal person a Rubix cube and leave them in a room to solve it, may it take them millions of years, but eventually they will solve the puzzle. I care not for excuses Adam, and neither does my higher up, we care for results, and we are not very proud of your current results."

"And you expect me to do what? Somehow magically find someone who'll give me the answer I'm looking for?"

Suddenly, a black thing came out from the back of the truck and landed right in front of Adam and gave him a devilish smile. Next to him, a pink thing emerged and landed, giving a similar robotic smile. "That's our cue!" They both said.

Adam quickly readied himself for combat, almost unsheathing his blade before Cinder could stop him. "These are new recruits. Idiotic ones as you can see, but useful assets to the team."

"She means to say friends. But enough about her, are you...THE ADAM TAURUS?!" Zim began geeking out. 

Adam gave a concerned look. "Yes? Why?"

"No reason, just got a few questions for you." Zim quickly ran towards Adam and gave him a fright, as he continually ran around Adam's body, examining every nook and cranny as he asked his questions. "Is it true that you killed an entire village blindfolded?! Are you actually only 19 right now?! Is it true that you're allergic to daffodils, but believe you me I didn't believe anyone that just seems like a dumb fan theory." Zim then reached and opened Adam's mouth and took a peak inside. "Is it true that you have 6 rows of teeth so sharp that even sharks feared you...Oh...You don't. That's a bummer."

"ZIM!" Cinder shouted, and Zim quickly ran back to his spot and bowed his head. 

"Sorry Mr. Adam Taurus sir! Just a really big fan of yours!" 

Adam was still getting over what just happened. "A big fan...of mine?"

"Really long story, so basically..."

"Are we really doing this?" Emerald asked, stepping out of the truck with Mercury and Hazel. 

"Well, he needs to be caught up too, no wanting to hide any secrets, right?" Zim said this with a devilish grin as he faced the people behind him, Adam noticing that Zim had crossed his fingers behind his back, and...he might have not noticed it before, but did he always have a tail?

"Fine, but please make it quick." Cinder responded. 

"Awesome! so basically..." Zim began.

/////

"...And that's how we ended up here. Any questions?" Cinder concluded. 

"Just a few." Adam responded. "So he literally knows all of us? And I went straight to hell In some alternative universe and he's actually a big fan of me?"

"That's what he said."

"Yeah, next thing you're going to tell me is that his whole talk about hell being a circus was also true."

"Well..." Cinder looked over her shoulder to see Zim juggling some pins and balancing on a chair, entertaining some white fang members, and he jumped off and caught all of the pins, which lead to the members all clapping and cheering. 

"Great." Adam said sarcastically. "Just when I thought I knew everything and had everything planned out, some black thing comes into my life and says 'Hey, your existence is a lie.' "

"He tends to do that, but believe me, he'll be useful when it comes to helping you locate that power supply."

"I sure hope he is. It seems to me that he's doing a good job with helping the camp out with morale."

"He also tends to do that." Cinder commented. But they both noticed that Zim shot a glance towards the both of them and, after bowing to his audience, he walked towards them and spoke to them.

"I caught word that I'm going to be working with you High leader! It's barely my third day on the job and I'm already getting moved."

Adam looked at the weird thing below him. "You're going to Beacon, we need to find the location of their power supply and fast. We need that knowledge, preferably 5 months before the Vital festival, and with only 8 months till the festival, we only got 3 to work with."

"More than enough time for me and my buddy over there, right B.D?!" Zim shouted, causing B.D to rush over like lightning and nod his head in agreement. 

"Good. Glad we that sorted out. I would like to discuss with you once you say your goodbyes so I can go over the plan with you."

"Oki-Doki!" Zim and B.D said, giving an O.K sign with their hands, and Adam nodded and began walking away.

"Such a nice guy." Zim said.

"Yeah, almost makes me want to take something red and wave it around and continually shout 'Torro! Torro!' " 

"Jesus Christ B.D that's horrible. But hilarious!"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Listen you 2. I have zero clue on how you can possibly not find a way to screw this up, but our relationship with the white fang must come out unscathed in this entire ordeal, understood?! Their help is a tremendous bonus to everything we're doing, and if I come back to learn you 2 screwed us over, I'll-"

"Rip out my **** and then **** my *** with it and then ******** me so you can take my ***** and wave them around like a ********-helicopter whilst you **** yourself with my severed **** as you recite the engraving that shall be on my tombstone while using my **** as a microphone and then lubricate my *** until it so ******* clean that you can see your own reflection in my own **** and then **** me with 27 ****** and my **** until I'm seeing ****-shaped stars?"

Cinder was...broken. So broken as a matter of fact no words could express the possible loss of braincells and emotions she has lost to these 2. They're were incredibly stupid, so idiotic, so disposable and practically insignificant compared to the rest of the team. "Yeah, that. Take care you 2." Cinder was almost surprised that she was being so genuine with her goodbye, but it mattered little to her. They were Adam's problem now.

"Take care of Cinos for us!" Zim asked.

"Sure, why not?" Cinder assured. 

Emerald and Mercury arrived to give their goodbyes, as Hazel returned to Cinder with the reports from the camps about their supplies. Emerald gave a small smirk. "Well, you guys aren't so bad after all. Can't believe 3 days with you and I'm already saying goodbye."

"It's not like they're moving to a different planet!" Mercury joked. "They're a literal 20 minute drive from where we are."

"And once we get relocated?"

"Oh...right." Emerald playfully knocked Mercury on the back, causing a small group laugh before Zim and B.D shook both their hands.

"Keeping being awesome dudes!" B.D said as he shook.

"And remember to keep imagination in your heart, your mind in the clouds, and your eyes steady in the scope of a gun as you continue to kill literally everyone else."

"Always." Emerald smiled. Then they all waved goodbye, even Hazel, despite not knowing much about them, still felt a bit melancholy about leaving them behind. As the truck began to leave with Cinder and her crew, along with the new white fang that rotated into warehouse duty, Zim and B.D gave their final wave of goodbye. 

"Man...I'm really going to miss them." B.D commented. 

"Yeah..." Zim agreed. "That Hazel guy smelled nice. He had a smell like a garden of roses that have been given a dash of the latest perfume 'La putain de chienne'."

"So does your belly-button on a summer afternoon." 

"It sure does B.D...It sure does..."

"So...let's Uhh...go say hi to Adam?" Zim was silent for a moment. "Zim?"

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry, just...Mentally preparing myself." B.D nodded, and they both left for Adam's tent and entered. 

Adam looked up from where he was working. "Zim, B.D, welcome."

"Hi." said Zim.

"Sup?" said B.D.

"As I sated, the plan is simple. According to Cinder, you already are well known throughout Beacon, and thus you 2 should know your way around. So all I need you to do is go and find that power supply. Got it?"

Zim and B.D looked blanked faced. "That's...It? That's the plan? Go and find it?!"

"Precisely. Since you're already well known, no need to be overly fancy with our work. But you should know this isn't the only reason why I called you here." 

"Called it." Zim said to himself. 

"You know who I am. How much do you know?"

"Well, you're the most famous leader of the white fang and committed huge atrocities against humans and those who wronged you, you got beef with the Schnee corporation due to their racist acts against your kind, and Blake is-" Zim quickly shoved his mouth closed. If there's one thing he wanted to avoid saying at all costs, it was that. 

Adam looked towards Zim. "And? Blake. Is. What?"

Zim swallowed. "Doing...Fine."

Adam was surprised. "Doing...Fine?"

"Well...She's a student at Beacon. She's doing fine."

Adam grabbed a seat and sat down. "Define your definition of 'fine'. Because to me, being inside a school filled with humans and the fact we're about to sick a ton of grimm in there doesn't sound 'fine' to me."

"Well, she's got good grades, nice...human...friends, who are very accepting of her, she's got a girlfriend who's also human and..." Zim once again slowly covered his mouth. He really should just stay quiet. 

"A girlfriend? So...She's...?"

"She's what?" B.D asked.

"Lesbian this whole time?" 

"Well, the book described it as 'romantically frustrated'." Zim stated

"The book?"

"The book of lost dreams. The one that tells everything about someone's past?"

"Oh, right, that one..." Adam had forgotten that the ink demon had told that to him in his long spiel about his life story. Zim was bouncing in place, which caught Adam's attention. "Got something to say?"

"Well...it's just that, well, you know, or rather you don't know cause why would you know and-"

"SAY IT."

"She misses you."

"What?"

"Well...She's bisexual deep down and she really wanted it to work with you but...she didn't believe in what you fought for and well she..."

"Was scared."

"Bingo."

The memories of the moment on the train, the moment when Blake left him. It was a simple 5 minute in and out heist, steal Schnee dust and book it out of there, but Blake felt off the entire time. At first, it didn't make any sense to him, not at all.

_"What about the passengers?" Blake asked._

_"What about them?" Adam responded._

"She simply felt like it didn't work out, she had feelings for you and wanted to see you more than just comrades, and when she left you she left for Beacon academy, and she caught feelings for this girl in yellow and she was sweet and kind and generous and all that neat stuff. And so far it's been great for her. Her morale has increased a lot recently and..."

The words coming from the demon didn't quite register all the way into Adam's mind. He was too fixated on the past, on the train.

_"We got to place those charges, blow this place up, and get out. We don't have time for this!" Adam complained as the mecha moved closer, readying itself as a giant laser shot fired from it, sending Adam flying outside. He would've fallen off of the train, if Blake didn't catch him before he fell._

_"Got any plans?" Blake asked._

_"Yeah, buy me some time."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"More than ever."_

_Blake nodded, and proceeded to tango with the mecha, as Adam readied his semblance._

"And they're very happy together and they go on dates and have fun and-OW!" Zim shouted as B.D pinched him on the arm. "What was that for?!"

"You seriously think he wants to hear that?!"

"I don't know, he just wanted me to spill the beans about her!"

"About his ex! Don't you have some decency!?"

"Well obviously not on me at this exact moment!"

They continued to argue, as the final moment, that last moment, when Blake made her decision. It wasn't a traitorous glare that Blake gave to him, nor was it a glare of hatred that he always believed she gave him. He'd refer to her as a traitor, a savage, a unforgivable wretch...But those were all lies. She wasn't a traitor. She was scared, afraid, and she made up her mind. 

_"Blake?! What are you-?"_

_"Goodbye." Blake quickly took Gambol Shroud and sliced the train cars, seperating the both of them. The cars quickly began parting ways._

_"Blake!! Wait!!" Adam quickly ran for the end, but the car Blake was on was too far away, too far to jump. Not again, don't do this, please not again, Adam interally begged, but the words couldn't come out. She was the last thing he had to family, to a companion, to a friend. "BLAAAAAAAKE!!!" Adam shouted as the cars parted, and his car came to a screeching halt._

B.D was on his last nerve. "Look! I don't care if it's wholesome or kek or poggers or whatever the internet calls it nowadays, describing the better life that his ex is having doesn't make it any better!!"

Zim placed his foot down. "But he probably wants to know!"

"No he doesn't!"

"We never dated." Adam confessed.

"Excuse me?" Zim was confused. 

"We we're always together. I remember the first time I met her. She was serious, strong, agile, willing to fight for her cause. She was such a wonderful person to hang around, just someone that I could interact with without feeling...judged. Without that feeling of being watched and constantly under surveillance until you make one wrong move and you're punished for it. That was life when I was forced into those mines by the Schnee company. Those son of b**ches would always find some dumb excuse to hit me, to burn me, to scar my every day life from the beginning. Heck, just existing was a good enough excuse to warrant punishment." Adam took off his mask, revealing the markings that the Scnhee corporation left. "So, when the white fang broke me out of my personal hell, I did what I felt like needed to be done. And once I was the one large and in charge, I was introduced to Blake, who was a new recruit at the time, who wanted to understand what we fought for to see if we did what we believed was truly right. Seeing her in such distress as her people are constantly denied basic rights just because we're different, she saw it as inhuman. She was determined, and I took her under my wing. Still can't believe I took over when I was only 15 years old. She was barely 12 at the time. She grew up so fast, and by the time she was 17, she was my second in command. That is...until she abandoned me. Just like the family who sold me off to the f**king Schnee company just to leave Atlas and live in Menagerie, I felt betrayed, alone, forgotten. But never...never would I have thought that she felt...scared. Just like me. She was convinced what we fought for was right. What was different now than what we did before?"

"Well now instead of fighting for basic human and faunus rights you now fight for the right to hunt humans for sport?"

"ZIM!" 

"WHAT?! Just saying what I believe is true!"

Adam looked down at the map. Now the plan had changed, Blake was in there, with humans and...friends who didn't judge her...and she even found love..."You said her friends didn't judge her, right?"

Zim smiled. "Correct. They're a great team too! Team RWBY, fighting crime and Grimm ever since approximately 2 and a half years ago!"

Adam continued to look down. So many thoughts were going through his mind right now. He was right about what he said before, just when he thought he had everything planned out and knew everything, some black thing shows up and says 'Hey, your life's a lie.' "What were those questions you asked earlier?"

"Huh?"

"The one's about my teeth or something?"

"OH! Uhh...Is it true that you killed an entire village blindfolded? Are you actually only 19 right now? Is it true that you're allergic to daffodils? Is it true that you have 6 rows of teeth so sharp that even sharks feared you?"

Adam cleared his mind. "No, that was a silly overexaggeration due to the mask. I'm currently 21 right now. I'm not allergic to daffodils, I have no idea where people got that from. And no, i don't have 6 rows of teeth, but you can bet your *ss that sharks do fear me. Any other questions?"

Zim looked down and cleared his throat. "So...what now Mr. Adam Taurus sir?"

"Tonight you 2 are going to pack, and once you're finished, you will get up at 6 and leave with the truck for Beacon, understood?"

"Yes, High Leader." Zim gave a silly salute as well as B.D. They both left his tent quietly, and Adam left his tent as well after a moment of deliberation, looking up towards the sky. The stars were bright and ever glowing, the way he like it unlike the boring black sky founded in Atlas due to the city lights. The stars glimmered, constellations shining brightly, as Adam continued to stare. He spotted a shooting star, something he only heard once when he was working in those dust mines, one faunus worker told him to whisper whatever he desired and the star would help his dream come true. He closed his eyes and whispered exactly what he desired. 

"Blake...be careful..."


	25. Fortune favors the bold

Another thwack of an axe echoed throughout the forest. the trees shook at the sheer strength of the axe as it continued to thwack against it until it gave in, toppling and slamming onto the ground. Cris regained his composure before collecting his prize, chopping it into smaller pieces and then bagging it up before placing it into his boat and then, after placing on some mittens, he began rowing down the river. The sounds had become familiar to him, the sounds of the birds, the sounds of the breeze blowing through the trees as leaves fell onto the ground, the sound of animals existing, wolves howling and communicating with each other, deer giving their cries as they continue their long walks into the dense forest. Yes, the sounds had become familiar, but so had the loneliness. "Sure is quiet without anyone else on the other end of the boat." He joked to himself. As he paddled, he was growing accustomed to the silence, as he closed his eyes and recalled a song from his youth. 

_Far over the misty mountains cold_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns old_  
_We must away, ere break of day_  
_To find our long forgotten gold_

_The pines were roaring on the heights_  
_The winds was moaning in the night_  
_The fire was red, it flaming spread_  
_The trees like torches blazed with light_

All around him, the trees around him began to glow, their runes burning with a fiery passion. The whole forest roared to life, but he didn't open his eyes. He could feel the life that surrounded him, the peace and calm that encompessed him as well as the animals and other wildlife that dare live within the harsh winter. But Cris continued his journey, to where exactly he completly forgot. He had forgotten that he collected wood for his home, he forgot there was a bag on the other end of the boat, but he luckily didn't forget he was in a boat. He didn't think of the forest, but only on the boat ride, his eyes closed tight, and the song he sung, that is, until it was interuppted with a sudden, soft stop of his boat. His eyes opened, and he looked behind himself. Jackal stood before him, looking serious.

"Got the wood for your home yet?"

"Uh...Yeah! Right here!" Cris showed the bag, to which Jackal took and, using his jumper ring, tossed the bag towards Cris' home. 

"Good, got that squared away."

"What's the rush?"

Jackal looked towards Cris for a moment. Cris' eyes were blank, void of color other than aqua from the watery form he had, so there wasn't much to view from it. But why he kept staring, not even he knew. "No reason."

"No reason...at all?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure that Salem didn't want us or anything?"

"Absolutely."

"So you rushed my work-"

"Yes."

"For no reason in particular, literally for no reason."

"...Yes?" Cris could see it in his eyes and expression that he didn't even know the answer. 

"Hop in."

"Hop in?"

"Yes. It can hold 2 people. It actually can hold 4, but I prefer 2, ever since...THE INCIDENT." Cris shuddered at the thought, memories of Zim, Cinos, and B.D in the boat, each seeing who can rock it the most before one of them fell out. He had spent the rest of the afternoon tending to the boat's many broken bits and cleaning the grime and dirt out of it, then he spent the whole evening scolding the 3 nimrods for thinking of such a stupid game. But he shrugged and looked Jackal in the eye. "So? You coming?" 

"Where?"

"Nowhere." Jackal hesitated for a little bit. He slowly placed one foot inside the boat and then the other after a moment's deliberation. He sat on the other end of the boat as Cris began to row. 

"So...Where exactly is nowhere?"

"I'm not sure, but the river and the waters usually know."

"Do they speak to you?"

"They guide me blindly." Cris responded, closing his eyes.

"Uhh...shouldn't you keep your eyes on the water?"

"Don't need to, the river's doing that for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Cris then placed his oar down and walked towards Jackal, with his eyes still closed. He found his seat and sat in it right next to Jackal, who tried to keep a serious composure. The silence returned, and Cris broke it.

_Far over the misty mountains cold_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns old_  
_We must away, ere break of day_  
_To find our long forgotten gold_

_Goblets they carved there for themselves_  
_And harps of gold, where no man delves_  
_They laid there long, and many a song_  
_Was sung unheard by men or elves_

The trees began to glow once more, much to Jackal's amazement. The forest burned to life, and Jackal wanted to open Cris' eyes, but he was much too into his song. The boat continued to float down the river, until eventually leading to a small cave. This was when Cris' singing came to a short end as he opened one eye.

"Oh, a cave." He said. Jackal looked with worry.

"Is that bad?"

"Depends on what's inside it."

"What's the worst thing that can be inside it?"

"Depends. What are you most afraid of?" Jackal remained silent. The boat entered the cave, it shimmered with gemstones and glowed with it's mystical waters and the sounds of waterfalls echoing throughout the entire cave. Cris looked towards Jackal and smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Indeed. Very beautiful..." Jackal began fidgeting with his fingers, which caught Cris' attention.

"Something the matter?"

"Well...Yes?" 

"You're very undecisive today."

"I'm just...nervous.

"Nervous? Of what?"

"I'm not sure." Jackal continued to look out towards the gemstones. Cris wanted to test something, he's seen that weird hand motion before, he's seen that concerned expression on Jackal's face before, and he's witnessed that same form of nervousness before. He recognizes everything, because he was once like that a long time ago. To test, Cris closed his eyes again and laid his head on Jackal's shoulder and placed his hand on Jackal's knee. Jackal jumped a little at the action, blushing as he looked towards the hand on his knee. He began to move a hand towards it, but then he slowly recoiled it back into his other hand. Cris noticed this, and decided to take the initiative, softly grabbing Jackal's hand and holding it, making the Egyptian God shudder in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Holding your hand."

"Why?"

"It feels nice. Do you feel the same?"

"Should I?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I'm not sure, a questionable question? I don't know! I'm just...not used to this, so I'm not sure what to expect." Cris kept his eyes closed, but if he were alone he would be red all over and probably in a ball of embarrassment. But he had to keep going, he just confessed and yet he didn't notice it. If he could keep this up...

_Far over the misty mountains cold_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns old_  
_We must away, ere break of day_  
_To find our long forgotten gold_

_The dwarves of yore made mighty spells  
While hammers fell like ringing bells  
In places deep, where dark things sleep  
In hollow halls beneath the fells_

As Cris sung, the gemstones began to glow, with their runes refracting the light and projecting themselves onto the cavern walls. Jackal was, once again, impressed. He gathered up some courage and laid his head onto Cris', as softly as he could. They stayed like this for the rest of the boat ride, and Jackal almost fell asleep if it weren't for the light from the cave's exit, the wildlife once again coming to life as they were surrounded by trees and snow, and right at the end of the ride, Cris' home. The boat came to a slow halt, and Cris got up and helped Jackal out of the boat. "Thank you Cris. That was...an experience."

"So no plans? Just decided to drop on by and give me a hello and a wonderful boat trip home?"

Jackal blushed, then shook his head, getting his composure back. "I simply dropped by to say hello, and..." Jackal fell silent.

"And?"

"And what?"

"You said and."

"Are you sure?"

"Jackal."

"Look, I know the reasoning I came here is a really stupid one, but please just don't...UGH! What am I even saying at this point?!"

Cris went and grabbed Jackal's hand again. Jackal fell silent and still as Cris held Jackal's hand. Cris couldn't feel the course nor roughness due to the mittens, but thank goodness it wasn't so bad to the point it would actually damage the mittens. "Feeling better?"

"For some reason yes. Look, Cris, I...How do I want to word this?" Jackal pondered for a moment, then stared once again into Cris' nonexistent eyes. Although empty, they somehow had a hidden beauty in them. "I've been working with you so far for a solid 7 years now, and I cannot begin to thank you for the amount of help you have given so generously around the team, with your kindness and your understanding nature and your...well, everything. It's been a genuinely great pleasure working with you. But..." Jackal began to shiver. "I'm so sorry, can we take this to a place that's much more warmer than here?"

"Huh? Oh! Yes, right!" Cris tossed his jumper ring, and they both ended up in Jackal's room. "So, you were saying?"

"Yes, of course, ahem. But working with you has changed me for the better. Your company helps me focus more, helps me not feel as down as I usually would be, and other benefits of the such. But..." Jackal then grabbed Cris' hand again, the both of them floating in zero gravity and being so close to one another. "I have no clue how to say this, but I know that I can't put this off forever. As a God of Egypt, I was always too busy to think of such things, so you'd have to forgive me. Cris...I uhhh...I-" Before he could finish, his desk drawer shook, and a seer came out, looking frantically around. Jackal waved for it, and it went over to him, showing one of it's blades at the end of its many tentacles. On it had writing that said "Urgent! Come ASAP. ~Salem."

"Oh." Jackal nodded, then the seer retreated back into the drawer. "I'm so sorry Cris, i'll tell you-" He was silenced. Not by blade nor hand, as he would think his voice and thoughts would fade, but more rather by Cris. His soft lips pressing against his in a desperate last chance. Once he broke it, Jackal was left speechless. Cris began floating away towards the bottom, which Jackal noticed and quickly followed.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that I was just desperate cause I caught feelings for you and you're not used to something like that and I just-" Silence again. Jackal returned the kiss, and Cris held Jackal's hand tight. Jackal internally laughed at himself, those love stories he read weren't exaggerating this moment at all, it really did feel like time slowing down and fireworks bursting in your head. Once the kiss broke, they both looked at each other, as if they were living in some false reality.

Jackal let go of Cris' hand and tossed his jumper ring. "I'll...see you at the meeting?"

"Yeah...see you soon." With a nod, Jackal left, and Cris was left alone. The room fell quiet, the air was sweet, and Cris tumbled and found himself on the ground, laughing to himself. He looked back up at the stars on the celling and noticed that every star shone brightly. Not one outshined the other. Cris continued looking upwards, the moment he had felt unreal, like he's going to wake up from a dream and find himself none the wiser. But no, it wasn't a dream, it wasn't some alternate reality. It was...Love.

_Far over the misty mountains cold  
To dungeons deep and caverns old  
We must away, ere break of day...  
To find our long...forgotten gold_

_/////_

Vale was bustling as of lately as students continued to flock amongst one another, theories being bounced off of one person's against another as each student guessed who they would be dueling against once the brackets were decided. Weiss, however, decided against figuring out who to duel against and more preferred to enjoy her lunch like any normal person rather than go around asking people who would be cooler to punch in the snout. She sighed, looking back at the newspaper and, for the first time in a long time, smiled at the news. "Grimm reportings have actually decreased. I wonder who's to thank for that?" 

Ruby was smiling through her mouth full of food. She swallowed and pointed at herself playfully. "This gal right here!" 

Yang smiled. "Look at my little sis, getting all famous amongst her friends and not by getting on the news. Just think what would happen if you got on the news at a time like this; "Ruby Rose saves Remnant by being cooler than everyone else"."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah." Nodding her head confidently. 

Jaune laughed it off. "Well it's not like we can all just spontaneously get an eldritch form you know. Speaking of which, anyone else got symptoms?" 

Everyone else shook their heads. Ruby slightly frowned. "Man, this whole pathogen really doesn't spread as well as I thought it would."

"Yeah, what a shame." Jaune said, laughing internally. 

"Like Jaune said," Weiss began "It's not like we can just gain it suddenly out of the blue."

"Yeah, just like what Jaune said." Said Ren, giving Jaune a glare.

"Aw come on guys! Don't let that get your hopes down! I'm sure you'll be able to get it someday!"

"She's right you know." Kokichi spoke, catching everyone's attention. Saxton was seated next to him, pouring a nice cup of jasmine tea. 

Yang looked unamused "You know, you don't have to scare everyone like that everytime."

"Sorry I'm naturally quiet."

Saxton looked up. "But, you weren't quiet last night when i-"

"SHUT IT." 

Weiss rolled her eyes. "On a more important note, I believe you guys came to us for more than a small spook."

"Correct you'd be Ms. Schnee." Kokichi stated. "Me and my comrade here will be leaving for Atlas soon and we needed some insight from you about the Schnee Dust Corporation."

"From me? Don't you guys have some special book to infer from?"

"Well, we would, but Jackal has been absent as of lately and he has the book, so you're our only secondary resource."

"I see. Well, the Schnee dust corporation is the biggest buisness of dust on the market. I'm not joking when I say that you cannot go to a single spot in Remnant to find any packaged dust of any form without the Schnee insignia on it. The compay is ran by my father, Jacque Schnee..." Weiss went silent, but quickly carried on. "Who is married to my mother Willow Schnee. Whitely Schnee is my brother and helps around the company along with my father, along with more servants than you would think is enough."

Blake quickly interjected. "But the Schnee dust corporation hasn't had the best business practices. Cheap labour, roumors of scams and shady trade deals, all in the name of beating the copetition and rising to the top. It's so rich that one rumour is that it could buy 30 of it's own stock and it would still have enough money to pay for taxes."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot. But that's basically the Schnee corporation."

Kokichi finished writing down the last of his notes into his notebook. "It sounds...I'm not sure of the right adjective..."

Weiss looked down. "It used to be so much better than it is now. Ran by a man who cared about the people, who did what he believed was right for humanity rather than himself. Nicholas Schnee, what the name was meant to be, now reduced to a tainted title."

"Do you regret having the name?"

"Hell no. I hope to one day restore it to its former glory. I have the spot to take all the inheritance from my father once the old man kicks the bucket, and once I do that, the Schnee dust corporation is being restored to what it once was, all thanks to moi." Weiss boasted.

"Fascinating. I have a question as well." Saxton asked.

"Go on. I'm more than happy to answer."

"Do you hate your father so much you wish upon him death or do you deep down just wish he was better as a person?"

"Oh...wow ok wasn't expecting that one..." Weiss was genuinely shocked and took a moment to formulate her answer. "He's...A rich man, money and power is usually all he cares about really, but I think having kids really had an impact on him lately. He actually sometimes sends me letters, how are my grades, how my friends been doing, but deep down I just think that's Klein's doing. He's my personal butler and the real person who raised me as a kid. I guess...Yeah, I wish he was better. Maybe come visit during the Vital festival, leave his company for once and see how his kids are doing rather than see them as just another liability to deal with. I remember once I got bullied in middle school by some kid, can't remember the kid's name, but what I do remember was how my father reacted. No joke, he sent out a formal letter to the school, a 5 page long letter, all hand written, detailing about not only the school's bullying policy, but also for him to not only receive, but also have it handwritten by the bully an apology letter the same length as his letter which was to be signed by both the bully and his parents which was, in addition, to be hand delivered to me. He even stamped it with the family insignia. Sure, it was extreme, but that's what I usually saw him as when I was younger. I think that was the first, and last, thing he ever did that made me see him as my father." Weiss once again went silent. Ruby patted her back and the rest of the team were speechless. 

Kokichi closed his book. "I see. I wish the best for you and him. I think it's time we begin getting ready to leave, Saxton?"

"Yes. I agree." Saxton cleared his throat and they both left. 

Ruby looked at Weiss' face. "Weiss? Are you ok?"

Weiss gave her head a small shake. "Yes. Sorry, just needed some time to reflect, you know?"

"Y-yeah, I know."

"Seriously? I give my life story and that's what causes everyone to go silent and mopey?" 

"Well how exactly are we supposed to react?" Yang asked.

"How about like this isn't a funeral?"

"HUH?!" Nora shot up. She was asleep the whole time. "FUNERAL?! DID SOMEONE DIE?!"

"No one died Nora." Ren assured. 

"Oh...thank goodness, I was afraid I'd have to cheer some depressed maggots up!"

"Over the death of someone?" Blake asked.

"You know what they say: You can't spell funeral without fun!" Everyone went silent. Nora slowly realized what she said and stared at the table. "Holy crap that was horrible."

Weiss broke the awkwardness. "OK! We're going to move on from that and get back to what we were talking about earlier, which was, in my opinion, a much better topic, I hope."

Jaune spoke up. "None of us have an eldritch form."

Pyrrha swallowed her food and looked down at her plate. "Uhh...How about we talk about the food? It's...scrumptious."

"Don't lie to us Pyrrha, out of all people we know this isn't your favorite."

"I just wanted to lighten up the mood."

"We applaud your attempt, but boo at your failure."

"OK!" Weiss stood up. "I get it! We're not in the best of moods. Why? Cause of me. Also cause we don't have eldritch forms, and that sucks! I get it!! Can we please just eat in peace before I-"

Weiss stopped, quickly grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and sneezed into it. She quickly placed it back and straighten herself out. But beofore she could continue, Ruby stared at her. "Weiss...Your nose..."

"What?" Weiss carefully touched her nose and felt something wet. She looked at it and...black blood, and to make it weirder, white spots all over it.

Jaune was elated. "White spots?! Jackal told me about that! He said he learned in his research that the white spots means that you won't go insane, your soul's strong enough to handle it!"

Weiss stared at the black blood and the white spots. She smiled. Then she giggled. Then she laughed. "HAHAHA! Complete control over this power is mine! Soon all the Grimm shall know of the power I wield!! Beware Grimm! Beware all those who dare stand against me, for it is foolish to try and defy my might! Defy me, and my power shall be immense, my judgement absolute, and your punishment shall be swiftly handed to you, and it shall be slow and PAINFUL!! HAHAHA!! Ahhh…" Weiss realized the whole cafeteria was staring right at her. She slowly sat back down and cleared her throat.

Ruby smiled. "That's my adorable Schnee-machine."

"What did I say about calling me that?" Weiss asked, but it was a feeble question. Ruby was already cuddling her and all Weiss could do was roll her eyes and continue eating her lunch.

/////

Jackal quickly rushed for the dinning hall as he left the jumper ring. Out of all times to have an urgent meeting, now was just not the best of times. As Jackal turned the corner, he spotted Cris waiting at the dinning hall door, who waved at him. Jackal smiled and reached the door. "Well, what do you think is so urgent?"

"Beats me. But whatever it is, I think we need to ready our guard." Cris advised, holding his axe tight. 

"Very well." Jackal responded, readying his scimitar. They both opened the door and found Salem pacing the room frantically, and she looked...Diffrent?! "Salem?! Is that you?"

Salem sounded relieved when she heard Jackal. "Thank the Gods you're here. I need an explanation for this. What happened to me?"

"On it." Jackal quickly pulled out his book and searched for answers. He reached a point in the book he thought was what he needed, 30 minutes prior to what happened. "As Salem struggled, she pulled away from the grasp of the God of Darkness, and soon he lost grasp of her, and Salem had once again become independent and free from her tower."

Salem couldn't believe it. All this time, was every decision she made just that wretched God toying with her, like a puppet's strings? "So...I'm free from him? I've been his slave this whole time?"

Cris pondered what the book was saying. "I think he's been misguiding you the whole time, and instead you made a choice he didn't like, and thus the bonds were broken."

"Seems so..." Jackal noted, continuing to read. "She had finally gained what she had always wanted; A way to end this never ending war and to have Ozma tortured for his misdeeds against her. But the God of Darkness had other plans, and burrowed into her mind the addiction of destruction and causing chaos. But she deemed them unessecary, for the end was in sight. What's the point in wasting time killing and slaughtering when you can finish the game now? But the God would not have her defiance any longer, and burrowed deeper into her mind, driving her to the brink of maddness."

Cris shivered where he stood. "I'm undeniably glad to hear you're ok, my Goddess."

Salem nodded. "I've never felt so...alive. It's like a weight has been dropped from my shoulders. I can think much straighter, my thoughts are clearer, and...It's all thanks to you 2."

"We're just doing what's best for us, right Jackal?" Jackal fell silent, his eyes wide and fear written all over his face. "J-Jackal?"

Jackal only looked into his book and read. "The God of Darkness was enraged at her defiance, and as his final act, stripped Salem of her power over the Grimm, and gifted himself the power. He vowed to exact his revenge on the mortal who'd dare defy him, who dare defy his will and might. The Grimm were hungry, and fierce, and to the 3 Gods who stood in the room, as subtle as a lighning bolt." 

_BANG!_

A loud crash could be heard from the other end of the door, and Cris acted quickly. "Kald!" He fired an arrow and it froze the door, trapping themselves in the room. After only a few moments...

_BANG!!_

The door was struck, and Salem began walking away from the door. "I don't have control over the Grimm...That maniac sent them to kill me!"

"Not if we have a say in the matter!" Cris quickly pulled out his jumper ring and tossed it. 

"Where are we going?!" Salem demanded to know.

"We're not going. We're running. Running for our lives."

_BANG!!!_

The door splintered even more, and through one of the cracks, a Grimm could be seen looking through, screaming its head off. Salem turned back towards Cris and Jackal, and did what she needed to do: Run.


	26. I - The Magician, XIX - The Sun, XXI - The World, united once more

It had happened so quickly, Salem could barely recall how it started. The only thing she could remember in the rush of things was the thought of running for her life, running from the grimm, running from the God of Darkness. Constant banging from the other side of the door continued, and the moment she saw through the cracks of the door the head of a bloodthirsty grimm, she knew she had no choice but to run. Cris quickly threw his jumper ring and begged Salem to run into its gate. She did, and all three of them escaped with their lives as the grimm finally blasted down the door and its defenses. They landed somewhere Salem was certain she knew, she could recall the empty wastes, the black and red atmosphere, and not to mention the lack of life present. But it felt so foreign, so out of place. There was no castle, no other lifeforms present. Well, at least she thought, until she saw out of the corner of her eye something completely unusual. "Is that...me? Where did you bring us?!"

Cris quickly placed his finger on his mouth. "Shh!! This place is another universe, RWBY-037 to be precise. I'll get us out of here quickly."

Jackal noticed something weird occurring from behind them. "Cris, hurry up with that jumper ring now!"

Salem ignored the warnings from Jackal, and watched her other self torture some red hooded girl and a faunus dressed in black. "This is...where I win...isn't it?" Salem looked around, the landscape was barren, the life from this world was no more. "This...This is what would've become of me?! This is hell on earth!!" Salem turned, noticing Cris grabbing her hand and rushing away from where they were. Salem looked behind her for Jackal, only to instead to find a scythe sticking out from a gateway, and suddenly a scream came from there, and out came a grimm's head. It was different though, it looked too human...it...

"W E I S S!!" It shouted, catching Salem completely off guard. Cris tossed the jumper ring and ran with his friends to safety. The gateway was opened, and the grimm poured out. The grimm that opened the gateway looked disfigured, incomplete, and her face and features were that of Ruby. Her arms replaced with scythes, her legs split into eight tentacles, and her mouth agape, tens of sharp teeth exposing themselves as her jaw unhinged. The grimm were stampeding, searching for their target as the Ruby and Blake that were being tortured were crushed and devoured by the grimm, and the Salem that reveled in their deaths, screamed of pain and begged for mercy as she was ripped apart, limb by limb, by the very creatures that served her long ago. 

/////

The gang quickly came to a halt in the emerald forest. Salem was trying to piece together what just occurred. "That...That grimm spoke!!" 

Cris was also trying to understand it. "It seems that the God of Darkness is making them evolve much quicker! What are we going to do Jackal?!"

Jackal was silent for a moment, then pulled himself together. "Listen, this is going to hard to explain, so listen closely." Jackal lifted his hand and asked everyone to take a closer look. In his hand, the group found a small, barely visible thread-like line on Jackal's hand giving off a blue glow. "This is a trail left by our jumper ring, it's like the skid marks made by cars, or the smoke left behind by bullets. I believe the grimm chasing us is using this line to track us down."

"But it makes no sense! How would the grimm know of universal jumping?! It's a grimm!"

"Not if the person who dreamt of it knew of it too."

Salem was confused. "Its true that grimm are products of nightmares, but who would've dreamt of that red-hooded girl as...that?"

"Weiss, her girlfriend. She was so terrified by the eldritch form that it must've given her nightmares about it. She barely got any sleep when she was in rehab about it."

Salem was stressed. "There has to be someway to escape it, some way too..."

"Dust, it's a grimm's main weakness."

"Not to the God of Darkness. He's much more powerful than we think, and if he keeps evolving these grimm quickly, then..."

"Is there an alternative way of beating this thing if dust doesn't work?"

"Magic. Jackal, I have a-" The gateway appeared again. Cris quickly tossed his jumper ring and made a mad dash towards it, and once everyone was safe, Salem turned towards Jackal. "We don't have much time."

"Then please, teach!"

/////

"But...Why?!" Jaune couldn't bring himself to understand why Cinder would let him free from his torment, especially considering all she has done to him to make his life hell. 

"Jaune...I don't...I don't know..."

"You liar! What do you want from me?!"

"NOTHING!" Cinder barked back. Jaune was in tears, and so was Cinder. "I just...I couldn't be like her..."

Jaune was taken aback. "Like...Salem?"

"My step-mother...cruel, torturous, the worst thing that has ever happened to me. She would electrocute me just for fun sometimes, my step-sisters would revel in my pain. I managed to escape that life, but I never wanted to be like her, never wanted to be below her ever again. But I was blind, and Salem was just like her, just a different person. She was so kind and generous, but through all her actions and constant pain she had inflicted upon me for disobeying her, after seeing what she was doing to you..." Cinder went silent. Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch. "It's just that...I couldn't see you like this, couldn't let her get away with something like that, because I know you can defeat her, because I know she's afraid of someone like you, because I..." Once again, Cinder went silent. 

Jaune blushed for a moment. "Cinder..." It was wrong, stupid even. She just sounded, felt, looked so much like her, like Pyrrha. Cinder felt similar, it was wrong, but it felt strange, it felt necessary, it felt wonderful. The feeling between them, their lips locking with one another, could've lasted forever, but it was cut short by a grimm's screech.

"W E I S S!!" It shouted once more, the gateway pouring out more grimm as they slaughtered Jaune and Cinder, ripping them apart and eating their limbs. The Ruby grimm looked around, then it began to twitch violently, screaming and shaking as cracks and pain echoed through the red and black hallway, and once it finished, it lifted its head towards the ceiling. "Don't be shy, young one...Step into the light, I promise not to bite." Its voice deep and formal, its posture more upright. Jackal was caught by surprise. It was him, it had to be him. Jackal dropped down from the ceiling and landed right in front of the grimm. "You're very quick to trust."

"And you're the God of Darkness, yes?"

"HA! Intelligent young one...and you..." It leaned in closer, it's jaw opening slowly, like it was measuring if it could fit the whole boy and be able to swallow him whole. Once it was satisfied, it closed its mouth and stared at the Egyptian. "Jackal, yes?"

"So you know my name?"

"I know many things young one. Some knowledge, however, is best left unobtained."

"And I would like to acquire it."

"Pfft, HAHAHA!!" The grimm roared with laughter, along with his other grimm. The laughter sounded devoid of life, and more of dying gasps for help, making Jackal cringe. "I would like some knowledge too. Where is she?"

"Hiding from you."

"And where exactly is she hiding?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because, foolish boy, if you don't, then..." The grimm raised its scythes and the grimm roared, sound loud that Jackal covered his ears and crumpled over in pain. The ringing stopped after a few seconds as Jackal looked up to face the wretched God again. "Am I understood?"

"Not quite. Like I said, I desire knowledge, and I would like some from you."

"Go ahead, ask me anything. I could use the interaction after being dormant for so long. I guess her failure wasn't all that bad, it certainly woke me up."

"Why destroy this world? What would you even gain from it?"

"Why? Why would I destroy? Because my brother is as stubborn as he is idiotic! He claims that his creations are wonders to the eye, and yet they end up killing each other sooner or later, so I get bored and hurry up the process. He always paints me as the bad guy, but why put such innocent lives through this torturous path of death, and yet be brags about it, like a ant colony mixed with another species of ant and patting yourself on the back as they kill each other because they're different. Mixing different species seems to never end well for my brother's creations, I mean, look at humans and faunus, killing each other for no reason but because they genuinely hate each other, and he calls it his MASTERPIECE!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" The room echoed with laughter once again, the dying gaps and the struggles of breath getting on Jackal's nerves. "But alas, he made a compromise with me to keep his creation alive, by creating the relics so we may rise again one day and reshape the world as we see fit, but as you now know, that won't be the case..."

Jackal's eyes widen. "You're going to destroy everything, regardless if humanity shows unity!" 

"Such intelligence and observation skills, not-so-innocent youth! My brother was a fool to offer such a task to you filthy affronts against the Gods! Especially...HER...She took the power of immortality and shared it with her husband, bore some children, then proclaimed herself as the god over all creation! Then she revolted against me, using my power to protect all of creation, but deep down I knew my brother's creations just wanted me dead! This was taken too far, and I took over her, made her kill all her allies, her friends, her FAMILY!" The god shouted, rage building up inside of himself. "And now she still betrays me to this day! But thanks to her body, I was able to hide away inside her so my dark power could live on pass my slumber."

Jackal noticed something odd about the grimm, it kept giving him ugly glares. It wasn't trying to maintain eye contact, it was just...looking at him. "You seem quite intrigued about me to stare for so long."

"I could only imagine the look on her face if I were to take over you, kill her with you, and enjoy karma taking form. Although, It's strange. I could've sworn I killed you before."

Jackal didn't know what he was talking about, but played along. "Immortality has its benefits."

The God was enraged, furious, slamming its scythes into the ground next to Jackal. "That worthless pest shared her powers with you too?! RAGH!!" It screamed, continuing to slice and kill, resorting to murder grimm around it.

"And you expected less from her?"

The god turned and gave a creepy, wide smile with a crooked head and slowly slithered its way back towards Jackal. "I guess you are correct. That fool was idiotic, but to be so confident in her power to give it to you of all people, how intriguing."

"She did it only to continue her legacy, you know the curse that befalls all gods. Eventually, they will die off. She just learned that before you could intervene."

The god looked down at the child. "It seems she is much more intelligent that I once gave her credit for. At first, I only expected to find her newfound lackies to attempt to slow me down, then I'd have the main course no later than a few short minutes. But you..." The god looked angrily. "Never would I have thought to find one of her children protecting her."

Jackal stumbled a bit mentally. If he did physically, the god would've called his bluff. _I'm...Salem's..._

"No matter." the god continued. "You'll die like the rest of her children. I should know. I killed them my-" The god stopped. Then he smiled wide. "Tell me, Jackal, where is Salem hiding?"

"You already asked this, the answer remains the same."

"Really? Would it changed if I noted a blue string behind you?" Jackal's eyes widen. He didn't dare turn around. "I've been watching you through her eyes. She has shown to be very unaware of who you are, and yet you play the fool, but you know better. You cannot protect her forever, foolish child!" With a quick swipe from one of his scythes, Jackal was slammed against the floor, a beowulf grabbing him by the back of his robe. "Keep him for later, my grand creations. He'll be a fun one to show Salem." He grabbed the end of the thread and pressed into the small crack where the thread ended, creating a gateway to the new world. He opened it with little effort, the grim charging inwards as he followed behind. But the world was...empty. A wasteland that went on for miles. "What is this place?"

"Universe number IL-002. Inhabitable landscape. No life, nothing." Jackal stated.

The god was confused, then he was enraged, then he turned towards Jackal and began giving the order to execute him. But then a giant beam of light shone through, right through the Ruby Grimm's stomach. Salem was right behind him, along with Cris. On Salem's arm was the word "Udelelig" and she revealed herself as the words faded from her arm. The god screamed in pain, and the grimm began to die off hundred by the hundred. Jackal was released from the wolf's grasp and began killing grimm with his scimitar, aiming for the Ruby grimm. The god screamed, charging for Jackal. Jackal began his duel with the god as Cris and Salem began fighting against the horde of Grimm to reach the god himself. But the god knocked Jackal to the ground, and before he could get up, the god used his scythe and sliced both of his legs off, causing Jackal to scream in pure pain and feel faint. Black blood flooded onto the barren waste, its white spots barely visible in the white and bright dirt. The god then stabbed Jackal's neck and held him outwards towards Salem, the blood trickling down the god's scythe as Jackal struggled to breathe. 

"Wretched, insignificant pest! Bring yourself here or I shall eradicate him like the worthless waste of mass he is!"

Salem was livid. "You put my son down, OR I'LL-"

"You'll what? Kill me? You've attempted that before, and you'll fail again!" The god suddenly realized something, and laughed even harder than before. "You knew this was your son?! Oh, look at the family reunion, what a shame I'll be responsible for his death a second time!"

"NO!"

"Then come here and die like you should've all those years ago!" 

Salem looked outward towards the grimm, towards Jackal. She couldn't lose him, not a second time. Not because of her own mistakes, not again. "Fine, you-" Salem stopped, tears beginning to form as the thoughts of her dead son began filling her mind. 

"Afraid I won't keep my word? I am the God of Darkness! Have I ever betrayed my word before? I promised to revive your husband, I gave you immortality, and I promised to kill all you knew and loved, and I'll do it again if you don't-"

Jackal smiled through his pain. All this time, he remembered the quick training session he and Salem had prior to this. But he aimed it at himself, his arms were too weak to put over his shoulder. He concentrated, readied himself, and focused his soul energy and his strength into the palms of his hands, and fired. The blast ripping through his chest, but he angled it carefully, and the god was silenced, the beam taking his head clean off. Jackal was dropped, and Salem rushed over to him, tears finally falling from her face. He pointed at his severed legs and did his best to speak. "My legs...bring me...my legs..." Salem quickly did, and they healed slowly, but quick enough for Jackal to look up at Salem and smile as she was about to begin crying. Once he was fully healed, he sat up and looked at the wave upon wave of grimm staring back at them. "Shall we?"

"YOU SHALL NOT!!" The Ruby grimm got back up, reforming its head and looking even more disfigured and broken. Its lower jaw was drooping on one side, one of its eyes was blown up, and its neck was snapped permanently to the side. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!"

Jackal began to stand, but he fell to the ground in weakness, coughing up black blood. Salem grew worried, but stood her ground. "You won't lay a finger on him."

"Good, then I'll just have to kill you FIRST!" The god charged, ready to slice off Salem's head.

But its scythe met a different target. Jackal looked up to face the God above him and screamed. The scythe hit a spike, with the anatomy of a spider's leg, as four more protruded from Jackal's back. On Jackal's arm grew spikes lining in a row, and the bottom half of Jackal's face melted away, revealing the bottom half of his skull and jaw. His spine was visible halfway down as his neck was halfway melted off. "You will not lay a finger on her...I WON'T LOSE HER AGAIN!!" The spike quickly moved as the other four moved quickly and deadly, each one piercing another spot on the god's body. The god barely noticed his body not regenerating. 

"I'm...I'm dying?! How could this be?!" The god looked down at the thing below him. It was no longer just some child, it was the God of Light's worst creation ever. A creation that could rival a god. "Enough! I shall end this worthless farce! This time, you shall-" An arrow struck the God's head, the red dust causing it to combust into flames. Never did the god believe that a grimm could experience mind death.

Jackal quickly stabbed the god's head and ripped it off, tossing it as far as he could chuck it. The grim began twitching violently, thrashing about and killing anything it could touch, before it slowly succumbed to its injuries and turned to dust as it faded into the landscape, forgotten for good. Jackal gave out one last scream before reverting to his normal self. The other grimm sounded furious at the death of their most powerful grimm. "Cris?"

"Let's go!!" Cris tossed his ring and everyone left, the grimm failing to escape their hellish fate of the inhabitable landscape. 

/////

Ozpin looked outwards from his balcony as he took another sip from his cup. The students below continued their daily walk about, enjoying life and excited to hear the news of their pairing for the upcoming tournament. He turned and placed his cup down on his desk and sighed. "What could possibly be causing all these grimm to be getting closer to Beacon?" Ozpin pondered to himself for a while. It had to be her, she must be growing impatient. The time he had was short, if he couldn't get these students prepared for whatever may come, then...No, it was toxic to think of such a possibility. He got up from his seat, picked up his cup, and began walking out. But he was interrupted by screaming, a gateway, and three figures falling through into his office. The gateway closed, and the three figures quickly gathered their bearings and realized where they were. 

"Ozma..." Salem spoke. 

"Salem?" Ozpin looked confused. "You look...Healthier?"

Salem continued staring at the old man. "And you look...older?"

The two of them continued staring, until they both erupted into laughter. Ozpin was quick to respond. "W-wait! This is a much more pressing issue here! What happened to you?!" 

Jackal got up along with Cris. "Please, allow us to explain."

/////

"So he's in control now. No wonder the grimm are more violent." Ozpin began to look worried. Knowing Salem, she was a tactical genius when she went against the God of Darkness all those years ago, which was why he was so afraid to face her himself. But now that logic has been thrown out the window, there was no plan, no careful thinking, just raw violence. "But now your ties with the God of Darkness are severed, but does that mean you're going to...?"

Ozpin was relieved when Salem nodded. "He has viewed all our plans, however, so he knows what we're after."

Ozpin understood what must be done. "Then we must figure out what to do with the relics. He could find and use them at any moment, and considering that he's a god, he could bypass the defenses of the vault without the use of the maiden."

Jackal nodded. "While the relics are important, we're instead in search for the major arcana, once we find all 22 members we can reset the universe to our liking and..." Jackal stopped, and smiled. 

Salem smiled as well. Ozpin was confused. "Something the matter?"

Jackal opened his book and flipped through the pages. "BINGO! He's one of them."

Ozpin was shocked. "Who? ME?! Huh, who knew."

Salem chuckled. "Don't pat yourself on the back too hard Ozma, you might break it." 

"Seems he's I - The Magician. But..." Jackal noticed something odd about the picture. "It's...upside down..."

"Is that a bad thing?" Ozpin inquired. 

Jackal quickly turned back the pages to other major arcana he knew. Sure enough, all of them were upside-down, except..."Salem, yours is the only one that's right-side up. But why?"

Cris had an idea. "It might be because of her freedom from the God of Darkness. She did feel better after doing that. And didn't you say that there were minor arcana that would help the major in beneficial ways?"

"That's...right. Salem must've been lucky to break out of her cage without the need of the minor arcana. Destiny works in strange ways Cris, every action a person makes affects the entirety of how the world shall continue one's story, despite free will being an illusion and destiny deciding the true ending. It's a giant domino effect, and Salem must've knocked over the first domino." 

"Thanks to her, the world arcana is right-side up, and now we're here!" Cris elated.

"Then it's a dangerous game we're playing." Ozpin concluded. "If we don't find those people first, the god of darkness will wipe out all of existence."

"Very well, but..." Jackal looked towards Salem, then to Cris.

Cris nodded. "I'll meet you at the bottom." Jackal smiled, and Cris left using the elevator behind them. 

Jackal then turned back to Salem and took a deep breath. "You...Know what I want to talk about, right?"

Salem nodded. "Yes. While I was under the influence of the god of darkness, I tried to convince Ozma to take over the world and rid it of all those who'd oppose us. He declined, and I ended up slaughtering everyone. Him, the townsfolk...even my own children. When you showed up, you looked so different, yet you acted so much alike, just like him. After seeing you, I had hoped my other children would come back and tell me that everything was fine and that they were ok...Satrina, Elizabeth, Alastor...They never came back..." Salem began to tear up. "What happened to them?"

Jackal was shocked and began tearing up as well. "Father told me that those were the names of my siblings, but each one was a miscarriage. I was the only lucky one, but you died during delivery. He raised me to be the best child he could dream of, a strong warrior and good willed and gold hearted. And one day that paid off, I was chosen to rule all of Egypt, but my father didn't come to celebrate, he died three days before I was chosen." Jackal looked upwards towards Ozpin, and he began tearing up as well. "I didn't want to tell you, because I thought it would be too much for you to bear. You never showed me my mother's face, nor did you tell me my mother's name. At first I thought it was because you didn't like her at all, you probably hid all the photos with her in them. I like to think you didn't want to remember her so you didn't morn for her. You wanted to avoid dwelling in the past and focus more In the future, my future. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I like to believe that my mother would be so proud of you if-" Ozpin quickly climbed over his desk and gave Jackal a tight hug. Salem also joined in, and Jackal returned the hug. He began crying into both of their shoulders. "I just wish...I could've saved you two. I wish I could've saved mother from her death, all because of my brith, and you from the destruction of my universe. I'm so....So sorry..."

Ozpin slowly moved away, tears falling down his face. "Jackal, It's ok, I'm here, your mother is here, it's ok. I may not have been there to see your accomplishments, but seeing your fight for humanity, for the good of the world, your care for others...I'm so beyond proud of you..."

Salem also moved away. "I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have started that war, should've fought back more often...If it wasn't for me, none of this would've happen."

Jackal looked towards Salem. "Don't say that! We're together again, and that's all that matters now! I'm beyond relieved to know that...you're here with me." The two hugged together again. "But...How could we possibly find all the major arcana? We're up against a God, and we don't have control over the grimm anymore."

Ozpin smiled. "We don't need the grimm, we have all the time in the world."

Salem was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Ozpin chuckled to himself. "Salem, do you really think that I just sat here all this time and not hone my skills?"

"Huh?"

"Salem..." Ozpin got up and moved to the middle of the room. "Try and attack me."

"Are you serious?"

"No, I'm Ozpin." Salem giggled to herself, then charged, readying to strike his neck. But Ozpin quickly snapped his fingers, and Salem found herself on the ground, her hand still in the striking motion. 

"Huh?! But I was..."

Jackal was amazed. "My turn." He took his scimitar and tried slicing Ozpin's stomach, but he once again snapped his fingers, and Jackal found himself already done with his slice. "HUH?! But I don't..." Jackal stepped back along with Salem. "I don't remember beginning to slice you...How was I already done with my slice?!"

"And my strike....I was on the ground, I didn't even hit your neck!"

Ozpin laughed to himself, then placed his fingers in a snapping stance. Upon closer inspection, magic was seen going near his fingers. "It seems you were stuck honing your skills with old traditional magic, but I had innovation on my side, as well as all the time in the world. By snapping my fingers, I have found out I can skip time and go straight to the end. Your strike did happen, but I simply skipped from the beginning of your stike to the end, and since I disappeared for the middle of the strike..."

Salem caught on. "I went through you! That's why I struck the ground!" 

"And as for you Jackal, I simply skipped from the moment you charged to the end of your slice."

"That explains why I don't remember anything in-between that! You skipped it!"

Ozpin smiled. "By using magic to its fullest potential, we can manipulate time to our liking. Although it seems I can only skip time..."

"It must be linked to the soul then." Jackal deduced. "It must be unique to each individual." 

"So" Ozpin began. "Care to learn more...My son? Salem?"

The two looked at each other and smiled. "Bring it." 

The three began their training, and while Cris was at the bottom waiting for them, he smiled. He pulled out his deck of Tarot cards and began shuffling. Luckily the hallway was quiet, as every kid was In class by now, and he laid out the cards in front of him. Past...Present...Future. He thought of his question and began flipping. The past, ten of swords upside down. What a shame, Cris sympathized with the death of what Jackal once had. The present, 0 - The Fool, right-side up. Cris smiled, glad to see that things are looking good for him. Finally, the future, and Cris smiled so hard he nearly went into tears at the beautiful sight of XXI - The World, right-side up. 


End file.
